HERITAGE: ENCASED POSTAGE STAMPS

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V28 2025 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 6, , Article 19

Heritage Auctions will be selling over 40 lots of encased postage stamps as part of their Fractional Currency and Encased Postage Showcase Auction on February 9. Select items are discussed below. -Garrett

We have over 40 lots of Encased Postage Stamps in our upcoming Fractional Currency and Encased Postage Showcase Auction that closes on February 9, 2025. Seventeen different issuers are represented amongst the 1, 3, 5, 10, and 24 Cents denominations in this auction. We also see that there are five examples of the rarer Ribbed Frame encasements. The vast majority of the pieces are from a single collection. Opening bids range from $175 to $3,500. This offering should satisfy the tastes of not only new Encased Postage collectors, but advanced collectors as well.

For the uninitiated, Encased Postage Stamps were an emergency currency at the beginning of the Civil War. The banks suspended their specie payments and the populace hoarded all the coins in circulation. This acute coin shortage forced the use of Postage Stamps as money. However, stamps became dirty and/or wet fairly quickly. Enterprising individuals came up with several solutions during this period. John Gault hit upon the idea of encasing Postage Stamps. This Yankee entrepreneur filed for a patent in the summer of 1862. Gault then had to line up customers to put their advertising on the pieces, purchase Postage Stamps, and have the Scovill Manufacturing Co. produce the Encased Postage Stamps. "Gault's New Metallic Currency" was produced for only a short time as the United States Government's solution to the small change shortage was Postage/Fractional Currency. Gault's idea faded from the scene rather quickly. However, numismatists started collecting the pieces very early, thus enabling collectors to enjoy them ever since.

Our cataloging numbers come from three different sources. The HB numbers can be found in The Standard Catalogue of Encased Postage Stamps by Michael J. Hodder and Q, David Bowers. The EP numbers are the numbers used in Paper Money of the United States 23rd edition by Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg. The Reed numbers were conceived by Fred L. Reed III for his Civil War Encased Stamps The Issuers and Their Times. We highly recommend all three references for enjoying the collecting of Encased Postage Stamps.

HB-49 EP-6a Reed BA01FG 1¢ Joseph Bates FancyGoods About New. A tougher number for the denomination from this issuer with "FANCYGOODS" spelled as a single word. Civil War Encased Stamps The Issuers and Their Times by Fred L. Reed III lists a rarity rating of R-6, 16-20 known for this number. The stamp is a deep blue and well centered with a small wrinkle. The mica shows only scattered minor crazing. The olive-green encasement has an advertising side that possesses just a trace of handling. The right tab does have a small dent, but the case remains attractive and desirable.

HB-137 EP-167 Reed-JG24 24¢ J. Gault Plain Frame Extremely Fine-About New. A well centered stamp with excellent color is observed. The mica is almost perfect save for a tiny ding at 2 o'clock that does not penetrate the outer layer. Crazing is virtually non-existent when viewing the piece head on or while titling it. Furthermore, our examination finds a lightly toned case that is slightly rotated. The latter is a common attribute of Gault's encasements. The Reed rarity rating is R-4, 31-40 known.

HB-225 EP-28 Reed-TA01 1¢ N. & G. Taylor & Co. About New. N. & G. Taylor & Co. is one of the rarest of the Encased Postage issuers. The Hodder-Bowers book states, "Denominations known include 1¢ through 12¢. None is really collectable." Fred Reed considers the 1¢ denomination to be a R-7, 11-15 known. Nonetheless, even with that low population figure, this denomination is the most available of the N. & G. Taylor numbers. The stamp is well centered. The mica has a couple of scratches at top, while crazing is scattered throughout the bottom half of the mica. The case appears to have been cleaned long ago, but exhibits signs of retoning.

HB-235 EP-59 Reed-WH03 3¢ White the Hatter Very Fine. All White the Hatter denominations are elusive at best with the 1¢ being a R-7, 11-15 known, the 3¢ being a R-8, 5-10 known, and both the 5¢ and 10¢ denominations weigh in as R-9 rarities, with two to four of each recorded according to the Reed reference. The R-8 example in this lot has had its case cleaned to a mirror finish and the stamp has a few wrinkles. We suspect this piece was once part of the T. James Clarke Collection due to its style of cleaning. Despite being the ANA president from 1935-37 and having extensive collections in several fields, Clark cleaned many pieces in his Encased Postage collection. The best feature of the Encased Postage in this lot is its mica which displays very little crazing when tilted. The last example of this number that we auctioned graded XF and realized $7,500 in January 2023 and that was the first HB-235 that we had offered in eleven years. Our current estimate reflects the cleaning, but it may prove to be conservative when the gavel falls.

The sale also includes some postage stamp envelopes -Garrett

Front Only of a Postal Currency Envelope for 3¢ Notes Mounted on Thin Wood (Washington, DC- Fisk Mills) ND (1869) Not Graded. This partial Postal Currency Envelope with a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln is similar to lot 20215 in our FUN January 2025 auction, however, our current offering is only the front part of the Postal Currency Envelope that was intended to preserve stamps that were being used as small change. It is mounted on thin wood that was once mounted itself. This is a post-Civil War example and U.S. Patent 91,473 was issued to Fisk Mills of Washington, D.C. for a "Postal Currency" envelope on June 15, 1869. Only a limited quantity were prepared. Milt Friedberg wrote an article on this Postal Currency Envelope that can be found at www.spmc.org - "Postal Currency Envelope" in Paper Money, Society of Paper Money Collectors, January/February 1980, Vol. XIX, No. 1, Whole No. 85, page 29. Milt was aware of three examples of the version that we auctioned in January 2025 when the article was written in 1980. Three other different versions were also known to Milt and he believed that they were the original "working samples" supplied to the U.S. Patent Office with the patent application as was required by the patent law of the period. These samples were later sold by the Patent Office in a house cleaning procedure. An additional variation was known to Milt with an eagle facing left.

Our current offering was last offered as lot 469 by Spink Shreves Galleries on April 17, 2009 where it realized $1,250. It is described in that auction catalog as "unique in this format." It has pencil writing on the back of the thin wood. The "compass" part of the design appears to be "enhanced" by hand. In the stamp auction catalogue, it has a stamp reference number of "Undersander #E804d." There will be no returns on this lot for any reason.

Reed/Fr. PE421 Postal Currency Envelope J. Leach 86 Nassau St. N.Y. Stationery, Cheap 25 (Cents) ND ca. 1862-63 Extremely Fine. A very nice blue diamond 25 (Cents) printed on yellow laid paper even if it is missing its flap. This is the variety with the narrow "25" and the yellow of the paper is very faint. Measurements are approximately 2.75 by 1.375 inches. The definitive work on this Civil War emergency issue is, Civil War Stamp Envelopes The Issuers & Their Times by Fred L. Reed III. The Friedberg reference uses the Reed numbering system.