SEEBECK: Hero Or Villain?
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SEEBECK: Hero or Villain? DANILO A.MUESES Second Edition Edited, revised and enlarged by Michael Schreiber Seebeck: Hero or Villain? by Danilo A. Mueses Second Edition SEEBECK: HERO OR VILLAIN? DANILO A. MUESES Second Edition Edited, revised and enlarged by Michael Schreiber including a synopsis of the 1884-1899 Minute Books of the Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Company and a detailed chronology of the life of Nicholas F. Seebeck Mirific Editions Troy, Ohio, USA 2018 All Rights Reserved. Published in the United States of America by Mirific Editions [email protected] Created in the United States of America Second Edition This digital book has no International Standard Book Number. Copyright 2018 Michael F. Schreiber The digital version of this book is free and is not for sale or for rent. Any person who has the digital version of this book may send a free copy of the digital version to any other person. Published October 1, 2018 Version 1 October 31, 2018 First Revision M U E S E S – S E E B E C K TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication ............................................................................................................... vi Prologue to the First Edition ................................................................................... vii Image Credits ........................................................................................................ viii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................. ix Preface to the Second Edition .................................................................................. xi Chapter I. Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 Chapter II. Nicholas F. Seebeck: The Man, The Legend ......................................... 3 Chapter III. Manhattan Bank Note Company Hamilton Bank Note Company Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Company ....................... 9 Chapter IV. The Mission in Central America ........................................................ 15 Chapter V. El Salvador ....................................................................................... 17 Chapter VI. Honduras .......................................................................................... 33 Chapter VII. Nicaragua ......................................................................................... 41 Chapter VIII. Ecuador ............................................................................................ 55 Chapter IX. Colombian State of Bolívar and Bolivia ............................................. 65 Chapter X. The Dominican Republic ................................................................... 73 Chapter XI. The Seebeck Stamps and Postal Stationery ....................................... 81 Chapter XII. The Scandal and the Letter ............................................................... 99 Chapter XIII. Hero or Villain? ............................................................................... 111 Notes to Chapters ................................................................................................. 115 Bibliography ......................................................................................................... 121 Officers of the Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Company .................. 125 Synopsis of the Minute Books of the Hamilton company ....................................... 129 Chronology of the Life of Nicholas F. Seebeck ....................................................... 145 Index .................................................................................................................... 159 Two separate digital files of the Minute Books of the Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Co., 1884-1899, accompany this book. The files, created with the permission of Nadine Kofman, include the pages in The Seebecker that contain the full transcriptions that Bill Welch made of the company Minute Books. v M U E S E S – S E E B E C K DEDICATION for Bill Welch and Danilo Mueses vi M U E S E S – S E E B E C K PROLOGUE TO THE FIRST EDITION There are few people who owe their fame, Secondly it offers historical information on or indeed notoriety, to postage stamps. Seebeck, which allows us to study and inter- Nicholas Seebeck is one of those people. pret why the events which occurred did occur. Much has been written about philate- The Interamerican Federation of Philately ly’s misfortunes as a result of commercial – the FIAF – immediately recognized the contracts that Seebeck realized with some importance of this work and from its incep- Central American and South American coun- tion gave it its unconditional support and is tries for the supplying of postage stamps. proud, now that it is published, to number But is this in fact true, or did the popular- among its patrons. ity of our hobby increase because of the ease We are sure that you will enjoy the work of acquiring stamps at low cost that the con- of Señor Mueses, written as it is in such a tracts and Seebeck created? straightforward, light and easy-to-read form. Danilo Mueses proposes an interest- I am delighted to write these short lines of ing thesis, but even more interesting is that introduction to the author, an old friend and which results from the vast amount of infor- philatelist of great standing, who for many mation that the author offers us on the sub- years has been one of the key figures in the ject, leaving us, the readers, with the last Dominican Republic Philatelic Society where word. his work as editor of the official organ, the This book’s contribution to philately is magazine El Filotélico, has not passed twofold: first, published in Spanish, it is in unacclaimed. the language of the countries with whom The concrete result of this work is that we Seebeck realized his contracts but in which no longer have excuses, when Seebeck is spo- very little on this subject has been written. ken of, for not expounding our views. Dr. Roberto M. Rosende 1985 vii M U E S E S – S E E B E C K IMAGE CREDITS page front cover: Strohmeyer & Wyman Publishers, 1899 stereo card titled “New York’s great ‘shopping’ district and Elevated Railway, – Sixth Avenue from 18th Street,” public domain, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division. 1 photograph of Seebeck: Ernest Schernikow, “Salvador,” The Philatelic Gazette, August 1916, 6:8, page 235. 3 Seebeck business card: Kilian E. Nathan, “Seebeckiana,” collection and exhibit. 4 cover of Descriptive Price Catalogue: Irving I. Green, “That Man Seebeck,” American Philatelic Congress Yearbook, 1946, No. 12, page 141. 4 1877 cover from El Salvador: Kilian E. Nathan, “Seebeckiana,” collection and exhibit. 5 1872 notice of Seebeck move: Bill Welch, The Seebecker, June 1992, page 10. 6 Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Co. card in English: Danilo Mueses, Seebeck: ¿Héroe o Villano?, 1986, page 17. 7 Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Co. card in Spanish: Bill Welch, The Seebecker, September 1990, page 2. 10 Hamilton Bank Note Company (1881) business card: Richard D. Sheaff, collection of Joe Freedman. 10 Dominican Republic postal card: collection of the editor. 11 Hamilton Bank Note Engraving and Printing Co. business card: Barbara Mueller, The Essay-Proof Journal, Second Quarter 1988, 45:2. 20 - 91 images of stamps and postal stationery: collection of the editor except as follows: 21 photograph of Gen. Carlos Ezeta: public domain, Wikimedia Commons. 45 sketches of watermarks: Joseph D. Hahn, as modified by the editor. 48 se-tenant pair of 50c and 20c stamps: Bill Byerley. 69 Bolivia essays: Joseph D. Hahn, from the collection of Bill Welch. 75 postal card mailed in 1879 from Seebeck’s father Frederick: Bill Welch, The Seebecker, January 1987, page 3. 76 1880 cover from the Dominican Republic: Danilo Mueses, Seebeck: ¿Héroe o Villano?, 1986, page 115. 78 Dominican Republic 1879 stamp: Danilo Mueses. 80 Dominican Republic 1881 stamp: Danilo Mueses. 92 La Paz Vieja postmark: Danilo Mueses, Seebeck: Hero or Villain?, 1988, page 68. 93 advertisements for stamps: Danilo Mueses, Seebeck: ¿Héroe o Villano?, 1986, page 138. 102 cut of Gustave B. Calman: Bill Welch, The American Philatelist, March 1989, page 238. 106 cut of J. Walter Scott: The Record and Review, December 1890, page 33. 120 Calman: 1925 passport application; Schernikow: 1922 passport application; Grace: mayoral portrait. 142 view from the Washington Building: public domain, see Wikimedia Commons, from King’s Handbook of New York City, 1893, page 695, the British Library and Flickr Commons. 158 1877 cover from El Salvador: Guillermo Federico Gallegos, collection of Michael Peter. 159 1893 postal card from Gustave Calman and 1903 cover: collection of the editor. 160 circa 1872 reprint of New Haven envelope imprint: Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries Inc. 160 1880 Hussey’s Post stamp: collection of the editor. 160 block of El Salvador stamps printed with advertisements: Guillermo Federico Gallegos. viii M U E S E S – S E E B E C K ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In the medium of print, to write an He helped make the book more readable. investigative, historical book on philately is The most difficult task was the collection no easy task. The main problem one encoun- of information from abroad. In the search for ters is the lack of good libraries and conse- the facts, I called upon whichever people (the quently the need to depend upon friends and majority unknown to me) I believed might