$1.50 AntiqueWeek T HE W EEKLY A N T IQUE A UC T ION & C OLLEC T ING N E W SP A PER VOL. 53 ISSUE NO. 2664 www.antiqueweek.com OCTOBER 20, 2020 Philatelists finding First Day Covers can be fun, rewarding By Doug Graves Left: Many first day collec- What draws people to stamps? Why do we get a thrill from tors will tell you that any- seeing Mickey Mouse, astronauts, presidents and Americana thing Disney or animals is a on these small pieces of affixable paper? hot item. At top is the Walt One possibility is that they are at once so many things: Disney stamp, issued in they’re art, they’re history, they’re antiques, they’re money, 1968. The postmark is from they’re miniatures – all wrapped up in the romanticism of the Marceline, Missouri. That city letters they set into motion. was Disney’s inspiration for Stamp collectors (called philatelists) come in all ages. It’s Main Street USA in his theme perhaps the most affordable hobby that is never ending. parks. Below, a cachet of Make no mistake, some collections are priceless. Two years a cocker spaniel adorns ago, at the Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries in New York, the five-cent dog stamp of 103 treasures from the collection of U.S. bond king William 1966. (Doug Graves photo) H. Gross sold for a shade over $10 million, setting the all- time record for a single day stamp sale. Gross’ block of 1857, 5-cent Jefferson Perforated’s fetched $472,000. Even more astonishing, his 24-cent 1869 Pictorial Inverted Center stamps went for $750,000. Stamp collectors in the early 1900s had a very different set of concerns than do col- lectors today. A hundred years ago, new stamp issues were few and far between. Post Offices hadn’t yet learned that they could subsidize postal operations by issuing stamps that collectors would buy and put in their collections. Every stamp that a collector buys and never uses is a donation to the Post Office and helps underwrite the cost of postal service. In 1911, for instance, there were no new United States stamp issues. In 2011, a hundred years later, there were sixty different stamp issues with a postage value of over $57. From the onset, collectors scrambled to get the latest single postage stamp, put it in a protective sleeve and mount it in an album using a small hinge. The next rage in this hobby was the plate block. Until the late 1960s, United States stamps included two rows of stamps attached to one another in a block of four or more, with printing in- formation, including the printing plate number, on attached margin paper. A number is used to identify one specific plate or cylinder used to print the stamps. Plate blocks began in the 1890s. By 1910, the hobby of First Day Cover collecting took root. Collectors began to find and esteem older envelopes that were cancelled on the first day that the stamp had been issued. Nothing elaborate were these envelopes. They were just plain and collec- tors were fascinated at having mailed (and receiving) an envelope with a stamp that was cancelled on the first day that the stamp had been issued. The U.S. Post Office, in a decision that greatly advanced First Day Cover collecting, began to announce upcoming issues in advance. This gave budding First Day Cover collectors time to prepare to buy the news stamps and have them used on the first day of issue. “First Day Covers could still only be told by the date of the cancellation on the envelope. It wasn’t until 1923 that the first envelope cachet, indicating that the cover is a First Day Cover, that First Day Cover collecting entered the modern phase,” says Steven Mays, whose First Day Cover collection numbers just more than 4,000. He has 36 albums full of these covers, others he keeps in sturdy, protected boxes. Mays, 74, a resident of Vienna, Virginia just outside Washington D.C., concentrates on First Day Covers of Great Britain and Canada, as well as the United States. He Above: Artmaster provided the cachet to honor Progress of Women in 1948 with a grew up in Vienna and has made multiple trips to The Smithsonian’s National Postal three-cent stamp. Seneca Falls, New York was the first day city. (Doug Graves photo) Museum in Washington D.C. “The Smithsonian National Postal Museum has it all, like a comprehensive special- ized collection of 19th Century carrier and local stamps, Confederate stamps (1861- The first cachet was on the 1923 Harding memorial issue that was released for the 1865), Tax stamps, hand stamps, Pony Express saddle bags, Sea Post service bags as recently deceased President Warren Harding. The famous Harding cachet was designed early as 1845 and letterboxes as early as 1900,” Mays said. “The museum has it all and and issued by George Linn, who was the publisher of the famous Linn’s Stamp News there are many aspects to this fun and lucrative hobby, but the most colorful and most magazine, which is still the mainstay phila- popular these days are the First Day Covers.” telic publication today. See First Day Covers on page 23 Season Finale – Sunday, November 1 Every First Sunday July - November Lawrenceburg, Indiana Fairgrounds US 50, 1 mile west of Exit 16,I-275 (Cincinnati Beltway) 7am - 3pm EDST Rain or Shine (Earlybirds at 6am) • Admission: $4.00 • LawrenceburgAntiqueShow.com • 513-353-4135 Delta Theta Tau Lamda Eta Chapter presents The 57th Annual Admission: $3.00 Masks are required For more information call Johnson County Fairgrounds 317-694-8052 Antique Show & Sale Food Served Continually Franklin, IN Saturday, November 7th, 9am-4pm Free Parking Att o ete 3,500 Booths! o o ete 800-1,200 Booths! SCOTT ANTIQUE MARKETS Att A ob ANTIQUE AND DESIGNER ITEMS eee TM 740.569.2800 www.scottantiquemarkets.com Nov 12 - 15 Jan 7 - 10 ve ot Nov 28-29 2020 America’s Favorite Treasure Hunts! 2020 Dec 10 - 13 2021 Feb 11 - 14 Dec 19-20 Page 2 WWW.ANTIQUEWEEK.COM October 20, 2020 NEWS Benzing House will offer up its treasures at auction By Eric C. Rodenberg in the house, with her physi- Right: A handsome bannister chair cian husband and son, until will be one of the diverse collec- FAIRFIELD, Ohio – To most of the “old timers” around this she died in 2003. Her hus- tions of antique and vintage furni- area of southern Ohio, it’s been known as the “old Benzing band preceded her in death ture to be sold from a multi-gener- House.” While it has been closed for many years now; the old in 1952. al collection by Mark Mallette and Associates on Oct. 24. farmhouse was once the site of scholarly discussions, medical Esther’s father and grand- inventions and the swanky soirees of Esther R. Benzing, the father had rented and farmed renowned “First Lady of Fairfield.” the area for 75 years from the original settler. The house was Mrs. Benzing, a local author, columnist, archivist and an- built in 1831 “due North and South to be right with the world,” tique collector, was born in the house in 1903. And remained according to builder Eratus Mack. About five years later, con- struction of a barn began on a foundation of land-cleared field stones. Esther and her husband, George, Jr., purchased the house in 1929. Their son, George III, who died at the age of 93 in May, also lived in the house much of his life. George III was a graduate of the University of Cincinnati, and later became professor of pediatrics at the university’s College of Medicine from 1964-1998. Closely following his retirement, he was ap- pointed as the college’s Professor Emeritus. In addition to au- thoring many peer-reviewed articles, he was also an inventor, including the development of a heart monitor used during open-heart surgery. “It’s incredible to think of the history here,” Auctioneer Mark Mallette, who will be disposing of the estate, said. “To think that Esther Benzing tied together the ownership makes it a real multi-generational sale. “She was a great collector of many things. There’s all kinds of glass – both pressed and cut, there will be lots of books, many of them leather-bound,” he said of Left: Nice Chippen- the Oct. 24 sale. “We’ve got hundreds of dale style furniture will be among the many postcards, two choice 1912 Winchester items being sold from calendars all complete; over 30 crocks the multi-generational estate. See Benzing House on Page 4 Presidential pie safe easily won the bidding at $37,400 By Pete Prunkl Right: Each of the 16 tins on this 19th century pie safe have the name Lincoln punched in. Believed to have been LONE JACK, Mo. — Bidders at Soulis Auctions may constructed as a celebration of Lincoln’s inauguration, have tried to guess the late Gerald Mueller’s occupa- the safe was the top lot of the 258-lot sale at $37,400. tion from his collection of trade signs. With 15 barber poles in the sale, he must have been a barber. Or maybe an optometrist? A reasonable guess considering Muel- double sided 23 ½ by 9 by ½ inch hand-painted sign ler owned nine wood, tin and metal spectacle signs, with spectacles and human eyes sold for $12,100. some with eerie eyeballs. With 10 iron watch face trade Mueller’s weathervane collection included pigs, signs, perhaps he’d taken up watchmaking.