Looking Back #43 - More on the Eagle Carrier Stamps

Note: In Looking Back #22, I talked about the (US) Eagle
Carrier stamps of 1851. Here is an interesting posting
from 2004 by Albumen in RCSD about Specimens of this stamp.


"US specimen's are mainly sought by specialists. The first
'specimen' overprints appeared on the US 1861 Issue. Prior
to that a control number was used on stamps exchanged with
European governments as a way of defining the country's
issues.

Then, in 1875 the US Post Office wanted a complete sets of
all US stamps to sell to the public at the Centennial fair
in Philadelphia. The back of the book material was over-
printed, but postage stamps were not because the dealers
&etc. wanted the option to use them for postage. So we
have revenue stamps and state department stamps etc. with
the specimen 'D' overprint.

Certain of these overprints are quite rare, but catalog
values have lagged severely. I purchased an unlisted
Eagle Carrier with specimen 'D' overprint from a dealer
in Seattle a while back for $20. The imperforate stamp,
with full original gum, evidently came from a sampling
of first day's production for government approval way
back in 1851. I don't know of an earlier issue with
specimen overprint!"

-a

Posted by Albumen on Dec 2 2004, in
rec.collecting.stamps.discuss

Thanks for the plug.

My blog on paper history will be up real soon - am really looking forward to
serving your philatelic needs.

-a

--

Send Replies to:


"Blair (TC)" wrote in message
ups.com...
Note: In Looking Back #22, I talked about the (US) Eagle
Carrier stamps of 1851. Here is an interesting posting
from 2004 by Albumen in RCSD about Specimens of this stamp.


"US specimen's are mainly sought by specialists. The first
'specimen' overprints appeared on the US 1861 Issue. Prior
to that a control number was used on stamps exchanged with
European governments as a way of defining the country's
issues.

Then, in 1875 the US Post Office wanted a complete sets of
all US stamps to sell to the public at the Centennial fair
in Philadelphia. The back of the book material was over-
printed, but postage stamps were not because the dealers
&etc. wanted the option to use them for postage. So we
have revenue stamps and state department stamps etc. with
the specimen 'D' overprint.

Certain of these overprints are quite rare, but catalog
values have lagged severely. I purchased an unlisted
Eagle Carrier with specimen 'D' overprint from a dealer
in Seattle a while back for $20. The imperforate stamp,
with full original gum, evidently came from a sampling
of first day's production for government approval way
back in 1851. I don't know of an earlier issue with
specimen overprint!"

-a

Posted by Albumen on Dec 2 2004, in
rec.collecting.stamps.discuss