The Classic Cancel

Item #	Description	Price
9331	#94, XF, #96 average, fine SE grill pair paying 20¢ domestic registration on intact ca. 1868 UNION PACIFIC R.R. corner cover tied by three strikes of NYC fancy star of David surrounded by inward pointing wedges (Milgram NY439), NEW YORK REGISTERED JUL 21 (Milgram R-NY-9) registry postmark. I believe this killer to have been used exclusively on NY registered mail. Milgram (United States Registered Mail 1845-1870, Fig. 206, p. 135) illustrates a similar killer on an 1863 registered cover, differing by the fact that the surrounding wedges point outward.	$300
9714	#98, F-VF F grill, #114, sound stamps, grid cancels with KEITHSBURG ILL. DEC 22 postmark (Mercer County 1848-), VF intact buff registered cover to Rev. William Nelson, Bedford, Iowa, attractive and scarce mixed franking.	$250
9997	#115, #97, fine copies, "PETALUMA CAL. APR 12" [1871] postmark, pays 10¢ rate + 8¢ registry on cover to Locarno, Switzerland. Light red "New York Registered Apr. 22" rimless date stamp and large framed "CHARGEE" on front, Basel, Luzerne, Locarno receivers on reverse. Cover barely reduced at right, a VF and rare mixed-issue franking that realized $885 in 2023 in the Siegel auction of the Jeffrey M. Forster "Collection of The 1869 Pictorial Issue Used In International Mails".	$600
9318	#158, #153, #154, fine sound copies, PATERSON, NJ MAY 23 (1873 docketing) postmark and SL "REGISTERED", on VF intact legal size cover to Richmond, VA. This is a rare, colorful combination use of high value Banknotes on a registered cover. Combined Scott catalog for these stamps on cover exceeds $2000. According to docketing at left, the cover contained bonds. Very nice and exceptional.	$450
7182	#159, VF pair, #156, SE, paying 3¢ postage plus 8¢ registry rate from PITTSBURGH, PA to Roxbury, MA, stamps tied by VF strikes of blue straight line REGISTERED on intact cover, blue Pittsburgh postmark on intact canary envelope.	SOLD
9807	#237, fine, sound 10¢ Columbian, tied by WASHINGTON D.C. REG double oval killer paying registry on Post Office Department penalty envelope, manuscript "Stamp Dept.", magenta MAY 7 1894 double circle REGISTERED WASHINGTON D.C. postmark, to Portland ME. VF and intact cover, tiny tear at top. The content most certainly consisted of stamp proofs or special printings, with the buyer having provided 10¢ for 2¢ postage plus 8¢ registry.	$75
9915	#U190, VF unsealed 10¢ entire with purple boxed "REGISTERED / STATION No. 164 / DEC 12 1907" and NY STA. 164 double oval killer, typed address, sent to Belgium. Late use for this entire, very scarce registered printed matter.	$50
7971	Post Office Department, New York, intact penalty cover, mailed from Havana, Cuba to Germany. Not having separate penalty envelopes for the U.S. Cuban postal administration, the cover had its "New York" address scratched out and "Havana - Cuba Register" penned in its place. The cover bears a purple 3-line "HAVANA, CUBA / APR 2 1899 / REGISTERED No. ___ [187]" hand stamp, and two strikes of 2-line "CHAS. F. W. NEELY / Chief, Bureau of Finance" identifying the sender. The cover bears 22 centavo postage composed of four different U.S. provisional surcharged stamps (Scott Cuba: #221, #223Ax2, #224x2, #225x2, all with faults) canceled by four strikes of purple "HAVANA, CUBA" in oval postmarks. (As of the date of mailing, assuming a matching of U.S. 5¢ per ounce UPU rate and 8¢ registry rate for postage to Germany with the 22 c. Cuban postage on this cover, the postage either represents a double weight cover overpaid by 4 c. or a triple rate cover underpaid by 1 c.) The cover is addressed to Mr. M. O. Borrmann, P.O, Aue, Saxony, Germany (23 4 99 AUE back stamp). I note by examination under bright light that the address under the label and the address on the label are, unexplainedly, the same. I suspect that the addressee was a stamp dealer and that this cover contained samples of the U.S. surcharged postage stamps. I base this solely upon a single 1912 German registered cover bearing the addressee's corner name and address that I located on eBay. If the above was all there was to this item, it would by itself be an exceptional penalty usage. But the story behind Charles F. W. Neely and his Cuban postal administration cohorts makes it much more interesting. The department of post of Cuba was reorganized under the authority of Estes G. Rathbone, appointed director of posts on December 21, 1898, by the Postmaster-General of the U.S. On January 7, 1899, Rathbone created the bureau of finance. Charles F. W. Neely was appointed as bureau chief. He was charged with the custody of the stamps, stamped paper, stamped envelopes, postal cards, and newspaper wrappers, and also issuing the same to postmasters. These responsibilities additionally would have included servicing requests from stamp collectors and dealers, both domestic and foreign. In late August or early September 1899, the surcharged U.S. stamps were replaced by newly designed Cuban stamps. On September 11, 1899, the remainder of the surcharged stamps (net of a sufficient number to satisfy requests from stamp collectors) were ordered destroyed. The burning of original sealed packages of these stamps was reported executed on September 13. The amount of postage destroyed was fraudulently misreported allowing the involved parties to embezzle post office funds through the sale of the retained portion of the the reportedly destroyed stamps. The embezzlement was subsequently discovered by audit. See a highly readable recent journalistic account of these events. See also a Congressional document detailing events.	SOLD
7880	#264, VF, #271 vertical pair, fine, all sound, on cover to Waimea, Kauai, Hawaii, paying the UPU 5¢ plus 8¢ registry on registered cover bearing scarce San Francisco registry exchange label FX-SF1a tied by Honolulu OCT 9, 1897. Cover mailed to a member of the well known Blackstad family. Cover bears a 3-line purple San Francisco, Cal., Oct 2 1897, Registry Div. hand stamp and is reduced 7mm at left.	SOLD

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