There are infrequent occasions in any collecting area when a collection of truly mammoth dimensions reaches the market, creating after-effects that are felt for years.

In the early part of the 20th century, it was the dispersal of Ferrary’s vast worldwide holding that provided philately with the opportunity to grow from its roots. The late Herbert Bloch used to joke that the Ferrary group lots were better than most of today’s gold-medal collections. Bloch may have exaggerated for comic effect, but it is certainly true that many specialized collections in the post-Ferrary era evolved from that sale.

United States and Confederate States collectors had so much more to build on after Alfred H. Caspary’s legendary collection was sold by the Harmer firm in the 1950’s. In the area of Postmasters’ Provisionals and Carriers and Locals, Caspary had a virtual monopoly in important items.

After the Caspary sale, the field of Carriers and Locals was dominated by one of the the most astute collectors of our century, John R. Boker Jr. In 1965 Mr. Boker presented a portion of his United States Postmasters’ Provisionals and Carriers and Locals to the Royal Philatelic Society of London. The event was memorialized in a London Philatelist article, which still reads as a tour de force in classic American philately.

Over his lifetime, Mr. Golden has formed outstanding collections in several areas. His eye has always been drawn to the rare and esoteric issues, from countries such as Hawaii, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Confederate States and, of course, the United States. In 1947 Mr. Golden discovered Carriers and Locals in the offices of Irwin Heiman, when one of Heiman’s employees, Donald D’Amato, sold him a small collection. 

Appreciative of most things philatelic, Mr. Golden is in love with the primitives. We use that passionate word deliberately, because it describes the essential feelings Mr. Golden has enjoyed while collecting Carriers and Locals. Those feelings burst out from time to time when he views an album and encounters something like the McMillan’s or Spaulding’s or Reed’s. You see it first in the pause, then in the smile and, after shaking off temporary disbelief that such a wonderful artifact is in his grasp, Mr. Golden will remember when and where it was that the acquisition was made. It could have been forty years ago in the offices of Irwin Heiman or Bernard Harmer or Louis Robbins or Bob Siegel, or it could be from the most recent auction—his clarity of recollection is unaffected by time.

Collecting Carriers and Locals is like skiing the black-diamond slopes. These elusive issues rarely appear in any significant quantity. The literature is filled with references to city directories, postal laws and a complex web of private companies that frequently merged or sold out to competitors, or simply disappeared. Because Carriers and Locals were among the most popular stamps as far back as the 1860’s, they inspired pioneer stamp dealers to reproduce what they could not find as originals. The names of George Hussey, S. Allan Taylor and J. W. Scott are forever linked with early imitations of Carriers and Locals, most of which are crude facsimiles of the genuine stamps.

Looking down this steep slope, there is nothing more exciting for thrill-seekers than hunting for rare Carriers and Locals. Even the most common material from long-lived posts, such as Blood’s, Boyd’s, Hussey’s and Swarts’, has enough variety to satisfy any collector, and those who take the time to study the subject will discover scarce and undervalued items. Other posts issued stamps so rare today that only a few collectors can possess an example at any given time. In several cases, only a single example has come to light after 140 or more years. Think of how few stamps in any other category can be considered as rare as the British Guiana One-Cent Magenta.

Difficulty of Acquisition is a concept used today to judge philatelic exhibits. There is simply no comparison between the supply of most of the world’s stamps and that of Carriers and Locals, which makes the Golden collection all the more remarkable, by virtue of its size and the inclusion of so many great rarities.

For postal historians, few post offices offer anything comparable to the challenge posed by the government carrier or private enterprise system that handled mail during the growth period of mid-nineteenth century America. The 1844 Independents and the numerous Locals innovated and competed in ways that forced the United States Post Office to emulate—or annihilate through the postal monopoly. Drop boxes for letters, adhesive stamps, discounted postage, registration of valuable letters, door-to-door and special delivery are among the measures introduced by private enterprise long before the government adopted them.

When we refer to Carriers and Locals, there are at least six distinct stamp-issuing entities that exist within the same broad heading:

• The United States Post Office Department, which issued only two stamps to prepay the carrier fee: the 1851 Franklin and Eagle Carrier (LO1, LO2 and the various reprints), which belong with the 1851 Issue (Scott 5-17);

• Carrier departments connected to post offices, which maintained city-delivery service, employed carriers and kept accounts separate from the principal post office—the stamps listed in Scott with “LB” alpha-numeric numbers are semi-official stamps issued under the authority of the various carrier departments;

• 1844-45 Independent Mails, the term applied to express companies that initiated letter-carrying service along railroad and water routes between cities in the northeast and also to and from the Great Lakes region; The inter-city expresses charged much lower rates than the government, but they only provided service along the most lucrative routes, which was perceived by the Post Office Department as a threat to its ability to serve all regions and to distribute newspapers; The postal reforms passed by Congress in 1845 were designed to meet this competitive threat, by both reducing and simplifying letter rates and by outlawing private mail service along inter-city postal routes;

• Privately-owned local (or intra-city) posts, which served the local community by taking mail to and from the post office and/or delivering letters between correspondents in the same geographic area—the stamps issued by Locals are included in the Scott “L” listings, along with other types of independent-mail stamps;

• Privately-owned supplemental posts, such as the Glen Haven Daily Mail, Hopedale Community Post and Mac &Co.’s One Cent Despatch, which brought mail to and from post offices where government service was erratic or non-existent; These posts did not, as far as we know, deliver mail within the post office’s domain, and for this reason they seem to have existed without protest from the government;

• Western and transcontinental expresses, which served the mining regions of California and Nevada by carrying mail where government postal service was
inadequate or non-existent—Wells, Fargo &Co. is the most famous of the expresses, but companies such as Freeman’s and Berford’s also provided similar service and issued stamps.

The stamps and stationery issued by all of the above entities can be collected in a general way, as was Mr. Golden’s approach, or specialized collections can be made for a category, post or city. The major cities—New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Charleston and Baltimore—are very challenging, due to the large volume of carrier activity and great number of private posts in each city. Boyd’s and Blood’s are two firms that flourished over many years and individually represent significant collecting subjects. One can also approach Carriers and Locals chronologically by selecting representative examples from  each year from 1842 through 1863, when free carrier delivery was enacted by Congress.

The Golden collection was built over fifty years and encompasses more than 3,200 items in 72 volumes. Its vast size and scope opens countless doors for collectors, and the presentation of the material in these catalogues is intended to guide and stimulate interest in this fascinating subject. Information will also be found on the Siegel firm’s website: www.siegelauctions.com. Enjoy the pursuit.

                    —SCOTT R. TREPEL

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