The Frelinghuysen Collection, Part One: United States Postmasters' Provisionals continued...

VERY FINE. A VERY ATTRACTIVE AND RARE EXAMPLE OF THE NEW YORK POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL STAMP USED ON INBOUND MAIL FROM BOSTON.

New York Postmaster Robert H. Morris arranged to distribute stamps to cities outside of New York and instructed the postmasters to treat the letters as unpaid at origin, but New York would accept them as prepaid on arrival. This cover originated in Boston, and the stamp has the unusual initials configuration with the letters "ACM" almost completely separated (without periods), except the "C" and "M" are faintly attached.

Ex Lapham. (Image)

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VERY FINE. ONE OF FOUR RECORDED COVERS BEARING A STRIP OF FOUR OF THE 5-CENT NEW YORK POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL. THIS OUTSTANDING COVER HAS NOT BEEN SEEN PUBLICLY SINCE 1936.

In his outstanding series of Chronicle articles on the New York Postmaster's Provisional, Philip T. Wall offered his opinion on the five most outstanding New York covers (Chronicle 107, pp. 153-155). In addition to the famous Hasbrouck cover with a block of nine and a strip of three, and the cover front with a pair of stamps initialed "MMJr", Wall selected the three covers with strips of four that were known to him to still exist. This cover, the fourth known with a strip of four, was pictured in another Wall article (Chronicle 111, p. 153), but its whereabouts was unknown at the time. It is one of three ex-Lapham rarities described by Wall as "phantoms," which, unbeknownst to him, were residing in the Frelinghuysen collection.

Henry G. Lapham displayed this cover in his exhibit of New York provisionals at the 1926 New York exhibition and at the Collectors Club of New York in April 1928. Henry's son Raymond included this cover in his Grand Award exhibit at the 1936 TIPEX exhibition. After Henry's death in 1939, Frelinghuysen acquired the cover, along with other rare provisionals, when Warren H. Colson sold portions of the Lapham collection privately.

There are four known New York Postmaster's Provisional covers with strips of four, as follows in order of use: 1) Positions 31-34, New York Oct. (1845) circular datestamp, used to Cincinnati O., double 10c rate, ex Hart, Klep, Chafee and Jaretzky, 2) Positions 6-9, New York March 17 (1846) circular datestamp, used to Geneva N.Y., double 10c rate, ex Grunin and Zoellner, 3) Positions 32-35, New York Jun. 2 (1846) circular datestamp, used to Marietta O., double 10c rate, ex Lapham, the cover offered here, and 4) Positions 37-40, New York Sep. 13 (1846) circular datestamp, used to Fort Wayne Ind., double 10c rate, ex Seybold, Hart and Gibson.

Ex Lapham. (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THIS IS THE SECOND LARGEST MULTIPLE OF THE NEW YORK POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL ISSUE. AN OUTSTANDING ARTIFACT OF CLASSIC PHILATELY AND OFFERED AT AUCTION FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1924. ONE OF THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE FRELINGHUYSEN COLLECTION.

The largest known multiple of the New York Postmaster's Provisional is the famous Hasbrouck cover with the block of nine and strip of three. The Benjamin K. Miller collection, owned by the New York Public Library, contained a block of ten from the bottom two rows of the plate, but the block was broken after the 1977 theft of items from the collection. This cover bears the second largest recorded multiple. There is one used block of four known as well as four covers with strips of four (one offered in lot 85) and a few off-cover strips of four. Any multiple larger than a pair is rare.

In his outstanding series of Chronicle articles on the New York Postmaster's Provisional, Philip T. Wall discussed three ex-Lapham rarities, wondering if they still existed. Unknown to him at the time is the fact that they were residing in the Frelinghuysen collection. One of the items discussed in Chronicle 111 (pp. 152-154) is the cover offered here. It first appeared and was last auctioned at the American Philatelic Society convention in August 1924, selling for $476. Shortly thereafter it was acquired by John A. Klemann of the Nassau Stamp Company and placed with George W. Armitage of England.

Henry G. Lapham acquired the entire Armitage collection of United States in a private sale through Frank Godden sometime in 1930. Therefore, this cover with the block of six was not part of Lapham's 1926 New York provisional exhibit or his 1928 Collectors Club of New York presentation. However, it is specifically noted in the 1936 TIPEX exhibition catalogue entry for the Raymond W. Lapham collection of Postmaster's Provisionals, which won the Grand Award, the first international grand award ever earned by a United States collection. After Henry G. Lapham's death in 1939, Frelinghuysen acquired the block on cover and other provisional rarities from the Lapham collection through Warren H. Colson.

Ex Armitage and Lapham (Image)

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