United States and Confederate States Postal History continued...

VERY FINE. AN IMMACULATE TIED EXAMPLE OF THE RARE "W. H. LAW" METROPOLITAN POST OFFICE STAMP, OF WHICH ONLY SEVEN COVERS ARE RECORDED.

The Metropolitan Post Office (a private post despite the name) is believed to have been established just prior to January 1854 by Lemuel Williams, whose abbreviated name "L. Williams" and 162 Ninth Street address appear on the first octagonal stamp (108L1). Curiously, Williams is never identified with the Metropolitan Post Office nor any mail operation in the city directories. The 1854-55 and 1855-56 directories list William H. Laws as proprietor of the "Post Office" at 13 Bible House, which was located across from Williams' address. The 1856-59 directories list Laws at the same address, but the name "Metropolitan Post Office" is used. In 1859 Laws is listed with the business "Books", which suggests the end of his involvement with the post. A trade directory links Williams and Laws in a partnership at 162 Ninth Street. (Reference: Patton book, p. 228, and Perry correspondence).

Although undated, it is our opinion that this cover could not have been mailed any earlier than 1856, based on the use of the "Metropolitan P.O." and "Paid/W. H. Laws" markings, as well as the worn impression of the 108L3 stamp. We record a total of seven covers with 108L3 (updated from our Golden sale), including six local uses with identical markings.

Ex Chapman, Caspary, Judd, Golden and Geisler. With 2000 P.F. certificate specifically noting the missing "Pro" variety. Scott Retail $3,750.00 (Image)

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FINE. ONE OF FOUR RECORDED COVERS BEARING THE PINKNEY'S EXPRESS POST STAMP -- THIS IS THE ONLY TIED EXAMPLE.

The only clue to the location of this post is the discovery cover, ex Ferrary, which contains a letter datelined "Fourth Ave., 94 -- opposite 11th St.", which Elliott Perry discusses in detail in Pat Paragraphs (reprint, pp. 473-474). The other recorded covers provide no further clues, except that the dates range from July to November 1851. Perry located a few Pinkney's (or Pinckney's) in the city directories, but found no evidence linking any of them to the post. Our records contain four covers with 115L1, which may represent all or most of the known examples.

Ex Golden, Kuphal and Geisler. With 1999 P.F. certificate. Scott Retail $4,500.00 (Image)

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FINE APPEARANCE. ONE OF SEVEN RECORDED EXAMPLES OF THE RICKETTS & HALL STAMP, OF WHICH ONLY FOUR HAVE THE NAME AND ADDRESS AROUND THE PERIMETER STILL INTACT. ONE OF THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER OF AMERICAN LOCAL-POST STAMPS.

Denwood N. Kelly provided an excellent overview of what little is known about Ricketts & Hall in his Collectors Club Philatelist series on Baltimore (Vol. 50, No. 6). Stephen Gronowski updated the census of known examples in The Penny Post (Apr. 1994) and Steven M. Roth included the three recorded covers in his February 1997 Baltimore survey (Chronicle 173). A review of our own records (including the Costales and Sloane notes and P.F. files) produced no additional examples or information, and the following information is drawn from the sources noted.

The stamps and advertisements from The Sun (Feb. 10-11, 1857) give the address of Ricketts & Hall as 4 Rechabite Hall, the location of Cook's Dispatch three years earlier (considered by Kelly to be purely coincidental). Several candidates for the proprietors are found in city directories, but nothing is known that directly links any of them to the post. Kelly speculated that John Ricketts, a printer, and Robert Hall, a tailor, were the best choices, given their proximity to 4 Rechabite Hall. The post started in February 1857 (the year appears on the stamp) and probably did not exist more than a few months. The three recorded 127L1 stamps with the surrounding name and address cut away have led to speculation that the post was sold to a new owner, who removed his predecessor's imprint; this is not an unreasonable theory, but no evidence beyond the stamps has been found to support it. If this occurred, it would have to pre-date the May 15, 1857 cover listed below as number 7, which bears a stamp with the outer circle and label cut away.

The Gronowski census is current with seven recorded examples: 1) cut to shape, pencil cancel, ex Caspary, Middendorf, Gronowski collection; 2) cut to shape, pencil cancel, the stamp offered here, ex Ferrary (?--as reported by Sloane), Needham, Hollowbush, Richardson, Golden and Kuphal; 3) outer circle with name and address cut away, uncancelled, ex Burrus; 4) outer circle with name and address cut away, tied by Baltimore blue datestamp (date?) on piece with 3c 1851, 1991 Park Cities net price sale; 5) cut to shape, uncancelled, used on back of Justice of the Peace corner card cover to George C. Whiting, Comm. of Pensions, Washington D.C., 3c 1851 tied by Baltimore Feb. 17, 1857 datestamp on front of cover, ex Lilly, Boker; 6) the only cut square stamp, pencil cancel, used on cover to Master Hammie Keplinger, local address, Valentine enclosure, illustrated in Kelly article (Siegel Sale 973, lot 297, realized $21,000 hammer); and 7) outer circle with name and address cut away, uncancelled, used on front only, 3c Red Nesbitt embossed stamp, Baltimore May 15, 1857 datestamp, to George N. Forney, Hanover Pa., discovered in 1909, ex Hollowbush, Lowe. Therefore, there are only four 127L1's with the outer label intact, including two covers and two off-cover stamps (cut to shape except for one stamp on cover).

Illustrated in Kelly CCP series (Vol. 50, No. 6, p. 358). Sloane notes this stamp as possibly coming from the Ferrary and Needham collections. Ex Hollowbush, Richardson, Golden and Kuphal. With 1999 P.F. certificate. Scott Retail $9,000.00 (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. ONE OF OF THE FINEST OF THE SEVEN REPORTED OFF-COVER EXAMPLES OF ROBISON & CO.'S LOCAL-POST STAMP.

Robison & Co. was a relatively small local post in Brooklyn, New York. Elliott Perry located three Robisons in the city directory listings who were in the express business: Cornelius D. Robison at 140 Chambers, 1857-58; Francis Robison at 707 Greenwich, 1857-58; and William Robison at 64 Cedar, 1852-53. It is not known which, if any, of these men was the proprietor.

The most famous example of the Robison & Co. local-post stamp is the one tied on cover to Jas. H. Watson, 231 Henry Street in Brooklyn. The cover was discovered circa 1895 by F. E. Kneeland Jr., a Brooklyn teen-aged boy who found it while searching through a relative's papers. It passed to Ferrary, then to Caspary, and was later to become one of the cornerstones of the Boker collection. Other examples of Robison & Co.'s stamp must have been discovered in the 1860's, because catalogues published in 1864 and 1865 contain listings for a Robison & Co. post.

Our records contain eight examples of 128L1, including seven off cover and the one on cover. Five of the off-cover stamps are known to have small faults. The stamp offered here has a relatively clear strike of the blue "Paid" cancellation ("I" and "D" show).

Ex Schwartz. Scott Retail $4,500.00 (Image)

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FINE AND EXTREMELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE ROCHE'S CITY DISPATCH STAMP. ONLY THIRTEEN EXAMPLES RECORDED, INCLUDING SIX ON COVERS TO WHICH THEY BELONG.

Wilmington city directory and post-office employment records for James L. Roche are provided by Elliott Perry in Pat Paragraphs (reprint, pp. 459-460). This information is also included with a census of 129L1 stamps and covers by Stephen Gronowski in the July 1995 Penny Post. Roche is linked to the Wilmington post office as far back as 1833 by a signed postage receipt. For much of the time between 1845 and 1858 he was a clerk in the post office. He left in 1849 following Zachary Taylor's election, but returned in 1852. During his hiatus from official postal duties, Roche ran a newspaper and periodical room advertised as "one door from the post office" and started the City Dispatch. The six recorded genuine Roche covers are dated from the third-quarter 1849 through the end of 1850. Roche died in 1859.

The Gronowski 1995 census with updated information contains six genuine covers, three of which have rectangular-cut stamps. There are approximately seven off-cover stamps (including two added to covers).

Ex Kuphal and Geisler. With 1997 P.F. certificate. Scott Retail $3,500.00 (Image)

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