Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc.

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THE ONLY RECORDED BLOCK OF THE JENKINS' CAMDEN DISPATCH STAMP.

The most recent and comprehensive study of Jenkins' Camden Dispatch was authored by John P. Halstead and published in The Penny Post (Jan. 1991). Halstead's article distills reliable information from earlier published accounts and incorporates unpublished research by Elliott Perry made available through Donald Johnstone. Halstead also classifies the stamps and envelopes by type and printing, which helps to eliminate the confusion created by the Scott listings.

The Camden Dispatch was established by Samuel H. Jenkins in 1853. After Samuel's death in 1857, the post was carried on by his brother, William H. Jenkins, possibly for another four or five years. Despite the long period of operation, Jenkins' Camden Dispatch stamps and covers are rare. The few known covers are listed in the description of lot 1276. Of off-cover multiples, only two pairs and this block are recorded, all from the lithographed printing (89L1).

Identifying the different printings can be confusing. Several original invoices for stamp production were given by descendants of the Jenkins family to Eugene Klein, who published the content of these significant documents in the 1939 Fifth American Philatelic Congress Book. They show that the original woodcut was engraved by Scattergood & Telfer, a Philadelphia firm whose invoice to Jenkins for "Engraving Letter Stamp" is dated Aug. 3, 1853. The 89L2 stamps on Yellow (and White) are typographs based on this woodcut. The typographs (Halstead Type 2) are distinctive in design and impression (see lot 1277), and they were the first of the portrait issues. The envelopes issued by Jenkins were also produced from the original Scattergood & Telfer woodcut. The Scott Catalogue does not list envelopes, ignoring evidence that they were printed in June 1854 on white and buff papers (see Penny Post, Jan. 1991, for text of invoice from W. M. Cobert, a Philadelphia stationer). Scott states in a footnote that the envelope stamp is "considered a corner card", but we know of no specialists who hold this opinion today. The first lithographed stamps (89L1) were printed in 1854. Invoices from the well-known Philadelphia lithographers, Wagner and McGuigan (who printed Blood's Striding Messenger stamps), confirm that 10,000 stamps were printed in June 1854, and another 10,000 were printed in January 1857 (a reprint from a new plate was ordered in 1869 to supply stamp collectors). Halstead assigns Type 3 lithographs to the 1854 printing and Type 4 to 1857 (both are 89L1). The easiest way to differentiate between the two types is that Type 4 (1857) has a small vertical line extending from the top frameline above the first N of Jenkins, while the earlier Type 3 (1854) does not. This block comes from the Type 4 printing and shows the line. The bottom right stamp in the block also shows two consistent flaws: a spot of white under "NK" of Jenkins and a small dash of black between stamps in the margin at lower left. The typeset 89L3 stamp is not easily placed in the sequence of printings, due to the absence of dated examples, but it is almost universally accepted as genuine, despite the Scott Catalogue footnote to the contrary.

Ex Green, Hollowbush and Boker. (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF TEN RECORDED COVERS WITH JENKINS' CAMDEN DISPATCH LITHOGRAPHED STAMP (89L1).

An overview of the post and different stamp printings is provided in lot 1273. Our records and information kindly provided by John P. Halstead contain ten complete covers bearing 89L1 (either Halstead Type 3 or 4). The lithographed stamp was printed by Wagner and McGuigan, a Philadelphia firm, in June 1854 and January 1857. The ten covers are as follows: 1) Ty. 4, two diagonal pen lines, not tied, with 3c 1851 on cover to James Shaw, Philadelphia, Sloane file, pictured in an article by Eugene Klein, 2) Ty. 3, tied by two diagonal crayon lines (red?) on cover to Hudson Sheeve, Engineer at W. Jersey Ferry, ex Ferrary, 3) Ty. 4, tied by two diagonal red crayon lines on cover to P. L. Vorhees, N. Camden, ex Caspary, Middendorf, 4) Ty. 4, tied by wavy pen line on cover to Judge Carpenter, Trenton N.J., with Camden Jan. 18 datestamp and "5" rate (1855 or 1857, year?), ex Abt, the cover offered here, 5) Ty. 3 on cover to Joshua J. Benson, private collection, 6) Ty. 4, tied by crayon (red?) on cover to John Gardiner, private collection, 7) Ty.4, tied by ms. lines on large Valentine cover to Miss Amy W. Brooks, private collection, 8) Ty. 4, ms. cancel, on cover to Eleanore H. Davis, Schwartz collection, 9) Ty. 3, uncancelled on Girard House (Phila.) corner cover to "Proprietor of Jenkin's Despatch", ex J. W. Brown collection, and 10) Ty. 3, tied by ms. on cover to Joseph Frain, reported to Halstead by Gordon Stimmell. In addition, we record another 89L1 Ty. 3 tied by wavy pencil line on part cover to Hudson Sheeve, dated Jan. 1, 1855, ex Caspary.

The Type 4 lithographs are attributed by Halstead (Penny Post, Jan. 1991) to the January 1857 printing. If this is correct, then the cover offered here is an 1857 (or 1858) usage showing the post office's acceptance of an unpaid cover after the April 1855 law requiring prepayment. Considering that the addressee is a Trenton judge, such an accommodation is plausible.

Ex Abt. (Image)

VERY FINE. THE ONLY GENUINE COVER BEARING THE JENKINS' CAMDEN DISPATCH ON YELLOW PAPER (89L2) AND ONE OF TWO COVERS BEARING THE 1853 TYPOGRAPHED ISSUE. A GREAT RARITY IN SUPERB CONDITION.

An overview of Jenkins' Camden Dispatch and the different stamp printings is provided in lot 1273. The typographed stamps and envelopes were produced from the 1853 Scattergood & Telfer woodcut engraving. Our records and information kindly provided by John P. Halstead contain the following typographed examples: Yellow Paper (Type 2, Scott 89L2): 1) tied by wavy pen line on cover to A. Browning, Camden, ex Caspary, Middendorf, the cover offered here, 2) tied by blue wavy pen line on part cover (half) to Hudson Sheeve, dated Jan. 1, 1854, ex Caspary, 3) ms. cancel, affixed to a cover to Cuba, but did not originate, Sloane files, 4) off-cover stamp, pen cancel, Johnstone files (Penny Post, Jan. 1991), 5) off-cover stamp, numeral "2" cancel, Springer collection, White Paper (Type 2, unlisted in Scott): 6) tied by red ms., used with 3c 1851 on small embossed envelope to Mrs. L. E. Scott, 20 Mile Stand, O., 3c tied by Camden Sep. 6? datestamp (1854?), sold in Robson Lowe Mar. 1, 1973 sale where photographed in color (white paper) and described as white paper, Type 2 on Envelopes (unlisted in Scott): 7) 3c 1851 stamp torn off, Camden Apr. 21 datestamp (1855?), to Mary Vann (two n's in name), Magnolia Fla., ex Chapman (Sloane files), 8) 3c 1851 stamp torn off, Camdencircular datestamp (date?), to Mary Van (one "n"), Magnolia Fla., ex Middendorf, 9) Blue-black impression (?) on buff envelope to A. Mathews, Coopers Point, Sloane files, and 10) cut square noted by Halstead (Penny Post, Jan. 1991). Although we have listed all ten of the various typographed items in our records, it should be noted that this cover with a typograph on Yellow paper is the only complete cover with a stamp that meets the Scott definition of 89L2. The other usage with 89L2 on Yellow Paper is a part cover.

Ex Caspary and Middendorf. (Image)

VERY FINE. ONE OF FOUR RECORDED EXAMPLES OF THE JENKINS' CAMDEN DISPATCH TYPESET STAMP, OF WHICH TWO ARE POSITIVELY KNOWN ON COVERS. ONE OF THE RAREST OF ALL LOCAL ISSUES.

As noted in the overview provided in lot 1273, the typeset stamp is not known on a dated cover that allows us to place it in the sequence of Jenkins' issues. As a typeset stamp, it would appear to be the first issue in 1853, prior to production from the Scattergood & Telfer woodcut. However, its "One Cent" denomination suggests that it might have come at the end, after the February 1861 announcement of a rate reduction from 2c to 1c. The stamp's rarity as a short-lived issue is explainable in either circumstance. We record four examples as follows: 1) uncancelled, on cover to Geo. Billmeyer, the cover offered here, 2) tied by pen line on cover to Franklin S. Hovey, Philadelphia, Brad Arch collection, 3) reported used on cover from Philadelphia to Lancaster, Halstead article (Penny Post, Jan. 1991), and 4) pen cancel, ex Ferrary, Caspary, Middendorf.

Signed Sloane (Image)