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1998 Chronicle: 177 Volume: 50 Number: 1 Year: 1998 Chronicle: 177 Article: Anachronistic Postal Markings and Expertizing Author(s): Scott R. Trepel Table Of Contents items marked with * cannot be viewed as an individual PDF document Click here to view the entire Volume: 50 No: 1 Chronicle: 177 Starting Page Front Cover (1 page) Front Cover Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Jack E. Molesworth, Inc. Inside Front Cover Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Spink 1 Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Shreves Philatelic Galleries, Inc. 2 Masthead (1 page) 3 Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Victor B. Krievins 4 Table of Contents (1 page) 5 Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Regency Stamps, Ltd. 6 Book Review The U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, Inc.: a History (29 pages) 7 Richard F. Winter Carriers and Independent Mails Collecting Carriers and Locals in the l860s - George Hussey and His Reprints and Imitations (18 36 pages) Herbert A. Trenchard Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Andrew Levitt, Inc. 54 1847 Period The Proof Panes of 100 of the 5¢ & 10¢ 1847 - First Impressions (1 page) 55 Wade E. Saadi 1869 Period Anachronistic Postal Markings and Expertizing (18 pages) 56 Scott R. Trepel Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: U.S. Philatelic Classic Society 73 Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Guido Craveri 74 Bank Note Period Editor - In - Chief's Note (1 page) 75 Joe H. Crosby New England Large Negative USPO Oval Cancellations on Third and Fourth Class Mail (4 pages) 75 Joe H. Crosby Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Charles G. Firby 79 Special Printings 1875-84 Revisiting the 1¢ 1869 Reissue (4 pages) 80 William E. Mooz Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Steven Hines 83 Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Pittsboro Philatelics 83 Foreign Mails Book Review: "Maritime Postal Markings of the British Isles" (5 pages) 84 Richard F. Winter Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Brad Sheff 89 The Cover Corner Additional Answer to Problem Cover in Issue 173 (1 page) 90 Scott Gallagher Answers to Problem Covers in Issue 176 (3 pages) 90 Scott Gallagher Problem Covers for This Issue (3 pages) 93 Scott Gallagher Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Leonard H. Hartmann 95 Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Taylor Made Company 95 Index to Advertisers (1 page) 96 Classified (1 page) 96 Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: James E. Lee Inside Back Cover Display Advertisement (1 page) Advertiser: Robert A Siegel Auctions Back Cover , THE 1869 PERIOD SCOTT R. TREPEl, Editor ANACHRONISTIC POSTAL MARKINGS AND EXPERTIZING SCOTT R. TREPEl Introduction It is indeed an error to collect aforgery, but it is a sin to stamp a genuine piece with the seal offalsehood' - Max Friedlander Databases created by specialists can be useful in determining whether or not an item is genuine. Census work - the surveying and recording of stamps and covers - has helped to defme the nonns for a particular stamp, marking or usage. As each new item is encoun­ tered, it is compared with the existing data. If the item falls within the nonnal parameters (as defined by the database), then genuineness is usually assumed. However, if it falls out­ side nonnal parameters in one respect or more, closer attention is necessary to detennine genuineness. The conclusion reached will either place the item into fake or doubtful status, or, if genuine, will redefine one or more parameters. Those who create databases and those who rely on them (collectors, dealers, exper­ tizing committees) must be careful to avoid the tendency to dismiss aberrations as fakes. Items are frequently tainted with negative certificates or declarations simply because they do not confonn to patterns defined as normal by the recorded data. What might be lost in this judgment is a valuable artifact, not just in monetary terms, but more importantly as something that might expand our knowledge of the subject. This is the sin to which Max Friedlander, a noted art scholar of the 1930s, refers in the introductory quote to this article. Two fundamental principles of statistical analysis apply to every census of historical artifacts, including stamps and covers: • The survival rate introduces bias in the sample of historical artifacts. Therefore, conclusions regarding the sample - for example, covers record­ ed with a particular postal marking - cannot be reliably extrapolated to the population outside of that selected group. • The existence of a sample of historical artifacts within certain parameters - for example, canceUations arranged in date sequence - cannot be used to prove that a particular example could not occur outside of those parame­ ters. In other words, the absence ofevidence is not evidence ofabsence. A negative can be proven only by showing that it is physically impossible for an example to have occurred outside the parameters. In this article the author will present three different postal markings that occur in cir­ cumstances outside normal parameters. They illustrate how the limitations of census data can influence opinions about genuineness. The first is the Louisville, Kentucky, "Southern Letter Unpaid" 1861 cover to England, which was considered by at least one prominent Confederate States specialist to be fake, because records kept by Louisville specialists indicated that the large-circle cds was out of use well before 1861. The cover was vindicated with the discovery of other late usages of the marking, providing a lesson in the possibilities that exist beyond the limits of recorded data. The second example is the still-unresolved case of a Waterbury cover with the Rose struck in black and an obsolete cds struck in red. This unique cover met such strong resis­ tance from consultants to The Philatelic Foundation that it received a "decline opinion" certificate, because the majority did not believe in the anachronistic red-colored cds. The 'Thomas Hoving, False Impressions (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), p. 209. 56 Chronicle 177 I February 1998 I Vol. SO, No. I Rose cover shows how experts who rely on census data can be quite unwilling to accept aberrations. The third and perhaps most significant example to be discussed is the Philadelphia 32-millimeter cds struck on a l¢ Z grill stamp issued in early 1868. This famous stamp, of which only two are recorded, has been certified on three separate occasions by The Philatelic Foundation. Despite its pedigree and physical attributes, which have earned fa­ vorable opinions from three generations of expert P.E consultants, specialists in Philadelphia postal markings have raised a question: could one of the Philadelphia 32mm cds devices have been used in 1868 when their data show no example dated later than 1866? This article will reveal some post office statistics and markings from Philadelphia to show how the late use of a postmarking device might occur. Case One: The "Southern Letter Unpaid" Cover to Liverpool The cover in Figure 1 is marked with the Louisville "Southern Letter Unpaid" green­ ish-blue handstamp. As a transatlantic letter bearing both the 24¢ 1860 Issue and this rare demonetization marking, it is considered by many philatelists to be one of the most out­ standing classic United States covers extant. It last sold in 1992 for $110,000. Figure 1. The large Louisville cds at lower left is used out of period on this 1861 "Southern Letter Unpaid" cover to Liverpool. The double-circle cds in Figure 2 was the standard cds format in 1861. When this cover was offered on different occasions during the past thirty years, doubts about its authenticity were expressed by a Confederate States collector who is widely respected for his knowledge and opinion in such matters. The collector doubted the cover's authenticity - specifically, the genuineness of the "Southern Letter Unpaid," "Due" and "24" markings, and the use of the 24¢ stamp - because census data for Louisville cov­ ers showed no dated examples of the large cds after a certain date years earlier. On the strength of this data, it was believed that this particular cds had been retired well before the "Southern Letter Unpaid" marking was used in 1861. Reinforcing this view was the existence of other Louisville covers from June and July 1861, all of which were struck Chronicle 177 I February 1998 I Vol. 50, NO.1 57 with the datestamp in a smaller double-circle format, such as the example in Figure 2, which is dated July 11, 1861, the same day as the "Southern Letter Unpaid" cover to LiverpooL. If the cds could not have been used in 1861, then one could only conclude that a pre-1861 stampless cover was used to create a more desirable "Southern Letter Unpaid" cover. Figure 2. Double-circle Louisville cds dated on July 11, 1861, the same date as the cover in Figure 1. If indeed this was an earlier cover with fake markings added, then all of the year dates in the genuine markings would have to be altered. Docketing indicates that the letter was originally written from Petersburg, Virginia, on July 5, 1861, and was received in Liverpool on July 27th. The 1861 year date is also shown in the Liverpool cds at upper left. These year dates (manuscript and handstamped) would have to be altered from an ear­ lier date to read "1861". The two-line "Southern Letter Unpaid" handstamp would also have to be added, along with the "Due" and "24" handstamps and, of course, the stamp. To the Confederate specialists who could not accept an anachronistic use of the old large-for­ mat cds, fakery seemed far more plausible than the possibility that the Louisville data were incomplete. The handling of this type of mail in July 1861 was by no means ordinary. It was sent to Louisville where the postmaster, U. Speed, was responsible for processing mail re­ ceived from Confederate post offices.
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