UNITED STATES LOCALS continued...

FINE APPEARANCE. AN EXTREMELY RARE AND DISTINCTIVE LOCAL STAMP ISSUED BY WHITTELSEY'S EXPRESS IN CHICAGO IN 1857.

According to Henry E. Abt's series on Chicago local posts (American Philatelist, Aug. 1957), Whittelsey & Co. started its express in late 1857. The 1857-58 Cooke's directory lists Whittelsey & Co. at 194 Lake Street, but the following year the firm does not appear -- it evidently folded, and the Whittelseys moved West. The proprietors are identified as Edmund A. and Samuel M. Whittelsey, who were first cousins, according to Dr. D. E. F. Easton (Scott's Monthly Journal, May 1956).

Ex Abt and Golden. With 1999 P.F. certificate. (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. ONE OF SIX RECORDED USED EXAMPLES OF THIS BEAUTIFUL CHICAGO LOCAL POST STAMP.

Ex Caspary, Boker, Richardson and Golden (Siegel Sale 817, lot 1603, realized $5,250 hammer). With 1999 P.F. certificate (Image)

EXTREMELY FINE. THE FOURTH AND LAST EXAMPLE OF THE WOOD & CO. STAMP TO BE DISCOVERED -- FOUND IN AN ORIGINAL BALTIMORE CORRESPONDENCE IN 1960.

Little is known about Wood & Co., which appears to have established its local post in mid-1856 and disappeared by the end of 1857. In his CCP series on Baltimore, Denwood N. Kelly cited two 1857 city directory listings, including one for "Wood & Co., city dispatch post, 9 South", located on the east side of South Street, between Baltimore and German (now Redwood) Streets. Only four covers were known to Kelly, and the last census by Steven M. Roth (Chronicle 173) identifies the same four covers, which are as follows: 1) tied by ms. "M" cancel on 3c Red Nesbitt entire to Erie Pa., ex Chapman, Caspary, Middendorf and Golden (Siegel Sale 817, lot 1605, realized $13,000), 2) ms. cancel (not tied), local address, the cover offered here, ex Kelly and Golden (Siegel Sale 817, lot 1606, realized $10,000), 3.) ms. "M" cancel on front cover of Annual Report of the Susquehanna & Tide-Water Canal Companies dated May 12, 1856, ex Keyser and Hall (Siegel Sale 830, lot 795, realized $6,750), and 4) May 16, 1856, folded letter with the stamp tied by ms. "X", ex Caspary and Boker. No off-cover stamps have been located by Kelly, Roth or in our search of auctions and other sources.

Ex Kelly and Golden. With 1999 P.F. certificate (Image)