The Dr. William A. Litle Collection of United States Encased Postage continued...

EXTREMELY FINE. THE TOP VALUE 90-CENT GAULT IS VERY RARE, AND THE EXAMPLE OFFERED HERE IS ONE OF THE FINEST AMONG THE REPORTED SURVIVING EXAMPLES.

Hopes for a quick resolution of the Civil War were dashed by a series of Union defeats during the first year of war. The increasing likelihood of a protracted conflict created fear in the financial markets, and the exchange value of currency notes for specie began to drastically decline. In response to speculation and hoarding, all forms of coins -- silver, gold and even copper-nickel -- disappeared from circulation, making transactions of one or two dollars difficult. Postage stamps, with a face value good for a government service, filled the void. On July 17, 1862, Congress authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to furnish postage stamps for use as currency in transactions of less than five dollars (postage currency). The vague language of this emergency act led to an explosion in public demand for stamps. Fearing a shortage of stamps for mail, Postmaster General Blair ordered post offices to restrict sales to "normal levels."

The use of stamps as currency was impractical, because the paper and gum made handling difficult. Postage envelopes were printed to hold stamps, but these paper envelopes were also problematic. John Gault, seeing opportunity, filed his patent for a "Postage Stamp Case" on July 24, 1862. A few weeks later, on August 12, he was granted patent No. 1627. Gault's "New Metallic Currency" was promoted through Horace Greeley's Tribune and other newspapers, and they soon became not only a form of currency, but an advertising medium for merchants, hotels and other businesses.

Gault's Boston office was located at 5 Water Street. By the summer of 1862 he had already rented an office in New York City at 1 Park Place, an address familiar to stamp collectors as the location of Boyd's local post. Gault formed a partnership with Joseph Kirkpatrick, an express operator and business associate of William V. Barkalow, who was Gault's partner in the munitions business early in the war. The encasements were made at the Scovill Manufacturing Company, a button and token manufacturer located in Waterbury, Connecticut. Gault's own encasements were the first he manufactured, and some examples still retain the silvering that was applied to his early products.

# The Ford sale catalogue (Stack's 6/23/2004, lot 514) reports "probably fewer than 10 known." This was described in the Stack's catalogue as "About Uncirculated" and "the finest we have seen."

Ex Ford. (Image)

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