James E. Lee’s Philately • Whole No. 66 • 1

Philately$5 • Free To ClientsJames E. Lee's

PhilatelyVolume XV • No. 2Winter 2013Whole No. 66

James E.Lee, LLCEmail: jim@jameslee.comWebsite: www.JamesLee.com

Special APS AmeriStamp Expo EditionJanuary 18th – 20thLouisville, KY

(847) 462-9130

Outstanding material new to our stock!1Xa-E1e

A complete set of the four colors of the Gavit & Co. essay prepared for the Albany, NY post office but never used.

Each is full size and pulled on ivory glazed paper. A mask must have been used in the proving process since the cross

hatching around the die does not appear. A very rare set! Ex-Finkelburg (EP66-01) $4,000.00

65 pair – With a pair of Cambridge, Mass “Eagles”A magnificent cover which graced the collections of Edward S. Knapp and then Hubert Skinner. A solid gem! (PH66-01) $750.00

65 – Union Adversity UseLewisburg, PA duplex cancelling device ties stamp to an envelope handmade from a circular (circa. 1863). One could surmise that a paper shortage must have affected some areas of the Union. Cover exploded so you can show any part you like. A great piece! (PH66-02) $150.00

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The First Word

Our Show Schedule for 2013APS Winter Show

Louisville, KYJanuary 18-20

March Party Cleveland, OHMarch 15-17

ASDA Spring Show New York, NY

April 11-14

Plymouth Stamp Show Plymouth, MIApril 20-21

NAPEX McLean, VA

May 31-June 2

APS StampShow Milwaukee, WIAugust 8-11

INDYPEX Indianapolis, IN

September 27-29

ASDA Fall Show New York, NYOctober 10-13

Chicagopex Arlington Heights, IL

November 22-24

In this IssueWelcome to the first issues of James E. Lee’s Philately for

the New Year. We have put together a wide range of essays and proofs and a rather eclectic grouping of postal history. There is an especially nice range of Trans-Mississippi stamps used on cover. The adversity cover from the Union side is most unusual and one of the very few we have ever seen. Some of the stampless covers have not appeared on the market since the Sam Paige sales of the 1950’s and 60’s. The 1861 pink shades while not gems certainly do possess true accurate shades.

Don’t miss “As I See It” for an insightful look at the growing field of collecting essays and proofs.

ASDA National Postal Museum Show Postponed to November 1 -3, 2013

As you know, as President of the American Stamp Dealers As-sociation, I had to make the call on the show that was to be held in November of this past year. The show will now be held on No-vember 1st through the 3rd this year. The silver lining is that the William Gross Gallery will open several weeks before the show. This will give collectors the opportunity to both view the Gross Gallery and attend a major stamp show all in the same building on the same weekend.

I would like to share with you the text of the press release that I had to write announcing the postponement of the show. It will provide you with some insight into those four long days (which started at 10:30 AM on Sunday the day before “Sandy” hit) of phone calls, conference calls and emails that led to my decision.

“The American Stamp Dealers Association National Postal Museum Show, November, 9th – 11th, 2012 has been postponed until either the first or second week of November in 2013.

The catastrophic events brought on by hurricane “Sandy” and which stretch from the Mid-Atlantic up through the Northeast have necessitated the postponement. Since Sunday the ASDA president, Jim Lee, our new executive director, Amy Nicklaus and executive director emeritus, Joe Savarese have been in con-stant daily contact assessing the situation. Collectively we have spoken with all ASDA board members, show participants, area collectors, out of state potential attendees the show hotel and the staff at the museum. The overwhelming sentiment of everyone we spoke to was to move the show back a year.

This was a very difficult decision and needed to be made well

in advance of the show in order to get the word out. While both the Museum and the District did not receive any

direct damage from Sandy the core market area for the show ex-perienced wide areas of damage and power outages. As of today there are still around eight million people in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast without power. The concern for dealer travel from the Northeast next week, as well as those travelling from California and out of state attendees all played into the decision.”

U.S. Cancellation Club has a great opportunity for youIf you have an interest in cancellations and are not already a

member of the US Cancellation Club, you are urged to consider joining. The Club, APS affiliate #75, was organized in 1938 and is devoted to the study of 19th century US cancellations. It is a field with much yet to be learned and documented. It is a study of American inventiveness, of the personalities of postmasters and their associates, of technological change, of success and failure and constitutes an important aspect of the overall postal history of the nation.

The Club publishes a 20 page, full color quarterly journal, maintains a lending library, offers a one-on-one advisory service and provides awards for best cancel exhibits. Examples of the subjects addressed in recent issues of the journal are color cancels on 1869 issue stamps, reports of unlisted New York Foreign Mail cancels, early Philadelphia ellipse cancels, letters of the alphabet cancels, a new Chicago “time on bottom” cancel, a New York cancel produced by an 1875 “stamp canceling machine”, Washington, D.C. ellipse cancels, and early and unusual “wheel of fortune” cancels. Back issues are available. A sample issue is available to nonmembers for $3 postpaid. Write Vince Costello at 318 Hoffnagle St., Philadelphia PA 19111-1819.

The USCC publishes a book entitled Cancellations Found on 19th Century US Stamp by Kenneth Whitfield consisting of more than 6,000 tracings which has proven to be an important contri-bution to the literature. Appearing initially in 2002, it has been updated twice, most recently in 2012, and new information is being accumulated for a future update.

Periodically the Club meets at a national show where it staffs a society table, holds a one-frame exhibit competition and conducts a seminar devoted to one or more areas of early US cancellations.

For membership details, see the enclosed application form. The Clubs’ website is www.bobtrachimowicz.org/uscchome.htm.

James E. Lee’s Philately • Whole No. 66 • 3

Beyond The Scott Catalog By James E. Lee

Philatelyis a publication of James E. LeeP.O. Box 36, Cary IL 60013-0036. E-Mail: jim @jameslee.com. Phone: (847) 462-9130.

Website: www.jameslee.com

James E. Lee's

Special NEWS about the Scott 2013 Specialized Catalogue

We are offering a special price on Scott U.S. Specialized Catalogue. The price has increased by just $2.50. The price in-crease is a result of the increase in media mail rates earlier last year. Media mail rates have increased over 400 percent since we started, full time, in 1990.

We had to place a third order for the Specialized resulting from last minute demand and wound up with more extra cata-logues than anticipated. We put aside a dozen just for newslet-ter readers and we sure hope that you will make them go away.

9290 The Scott 2013 Specialized Catalogue on United States Stamps & Covers. Scott Publishing Co., 2012,1168p, Softbound. Once again, in full color. Scott retail: $99.99. Our price: $79.00 postpaid.

202 Combat Infantry Mail: A Catalog of Postmarks used by World War II U.S. Infantry Divisions

By Richard Helbock, 1991, 152p, SB. It covers each of the 72 combat divisions, 5 Airborne divisions and the Mountain Infantry division. Il-lustrates postmarks, location movements, APO numbers for each of the divisions. This is one of those “sleeper books” that never that was never really publicized when it was published. Over the years it slowly moved from stock. Today we have fewer than 15 copies remaining. Therefore we wanted to highlight it hopes of finding good homes for the remaining copies. $24.00 and we will ship it postpaid by priority mail.

Give yourself a great philatelic magazine!The American Stamp Dealer and CollectorMagazine

I think you’ll quickly see that this maga-zine is quite possibly the best stamp maga-zine ever published in this country. Full color on every page (80 of them), it has coverage you simply do NOT see in any other maga-zine. Its coverage leans heavily to United States stamps and postal history (including 19th century classics)—and its features on the people, events and activities in our hob-by are truly unprecedented. If I seem pretty enthusiastic about this magazine, I am. Go to the magazine’s website and subscriber...then see for yourself. It’s 10 issues for only $19.95 per year at

www.americanstampdealer.com.

This great 80-page magazineis published ten times per year

and contains wide-ranging coverage of all subjects dealing

with U.S. philately.

The American Stamp Dealer & Collector • January 2013 • 1STAMP COLLECTING’S PREMIER MAGAZINE DEDICATED TO THE ENJOYMENT OF OUR HOBBY!

No. 66January 2013

$5.00AmericanStampCollector&

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ASDA’s Winter Postage Stamp Show!

Boynton Beach, Fla. • Feb. 8-10

Celebrating the 100th Anniversaryof the 1913 Parcel Post Stamps! See Kevin Lowther’s article on page 20.

4 • James E. Lee’s Philately • Whole No. 66

StamplessBeaufort, SC Stampless – 1839Beaufort, SC May 8 (1839) stamped “FREE” with the postmasters sig-nature underneath on FLS. Lengthy letter, the paper is somewhat bridle. Nice early use. (PH66-03) $75.00

John Burton Thompson – Senator from KentuckyHarrodsburg, KY CDS and “Free” on envelope. Thompson served in both the House and the Senate from 1853 to 1859. (PH66-04) $100.00

Richard French – Congressman from KentuckyWashington DC CDS on FLS datelined 1849. French a strong Jacksonian served three terms in the house from 1835 – 1849. (PH66-05) $100.00

These next three covers came out of Sam Paige sales in the 50’s and 60’s and thus off the mar-ket for over 50 years.

Grand Rapids, MI – 1844Blue Grand Rapids CDS also stamped “FREE” and sent by postmaster J.M. Nelson. Includes lengthy business let-ter. A gem! (PH66-06) $295.00

Detroit, MI – 1831Bold strike of Detroit, MI CDS on FLS. In-cludes a mortgage letter. Another gem! (PH66-07) $195.00

Huntsville, AL – 1846Nice bold strike of the fancy Huntsville “10” on FLS. Lengthy personal letter from a son to his parents, great calligraphy. A final gem! (PH66-08)

James E. Lee’s Philately • Whole No. 66 • 5

The PinksThe “Pinks” have always been a challenge for collectors. All of the covers of-fered here have PF certificates. Three of these covers came from the holdings of the late Jerry Wagshal. Each of these four covers is a great representative of the respective shade.

64a – Pigeon Blood Pink on a PatrioticNice pigeon blood shade tied by Portland, ME, Jan 14, 1862 CDS. Stamp slightly overlaps the top edge of the cover. Tiny edge tears, few frayed perfs resulting from the overlap, corner crease at bottom right, reduced at right. Despite the small faults (which are hard to see) this cover has an attractive clean appearance with great eye appeal and is priced right. W/PFC. (PH66-09) Catalogs $7,500.00 Net $4,750.00

64 – PinkStrong Pink shade with “PAID” killer, Lewiston, ME, Sep 1861 CDS. The PF cer-tificate mentions a few tone spots on cover and a nick in the stamp. A great reference copy that demonstrates what a “pink” should look like. Catalogs $1,000.00 Ex-Wagshal (PH6610) $295.00

64 - PinkA real pink with CDS tying it to the cover. PF certificate mentions small faults. A cover with great “pink” eye appeal despite the small faults which are not apparent. Catalogs $1,000.00 Ex-Wagshal (PH66-11) $500.00

64b – Rose PinkA well centered rose-pink tied by Vergennes, VT 1861 CDS, with clean PFC. The stamp is a strong rose-pink shade. Ex-Wagshal (PH66-12) $250.00

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One-Cent 1861 Postal History

63 + 68 PairAn 1866 21c rate to Italy on FLS which went through Calais, appropriate Marseille and Palermo back stamps. Nice eye appeal! (PH66-13) $450.00

63 – CircularA superbly centered stamp on 1862 folded circular. True blue shade, Ex-Wagshal (PH66-14) $175.00

63 – Drop letterA beautiful pane divider copy which comes from the bright blue family of shades. New Bedford, MA CDS, with PFC (PH66-15) $150.00

63 – Circular offering revenue stampsA superb stamp with struck with red “PAID” killer. Circular dated Nov 28 1861 (Stockbridge, MA) offers to supply attorneys with the various new revenue stamps required on checks and documents. A marvelous piece of philatelic history. (PH66-16) $250.00

63 – Drop rate pairPair tied by New York City year dated (1864) geometric du-plex cancel. Wonderful dated CDS use! (PH66-17) $250.00

63 – Carrier useStamp tied by New York carrier cancel (1862. Cover with patriotic red and blue piping on the envelope seams on the back with a blind embossed eagle on the flap (which has tears in it). (PH66-18) $125.00

63 – Unsealed circularSouth Hadley, MA 1862 unsealed circular use. Beautiful four margin stamp! (PH66-19) $125.00

63 – Fancy dropWestfield NJ Feb 14, 1867 drop letter opened at the left with great “iron cross” fancy cancel. (PH66-20) $100.00