The history of the Seebeck Issues is most interesting.
Nicholas Frederick Seebeck was born in
Germany in 1857. He emigrated to the
United States in 1866 at the age of 9.
Settling in New York City, he opened a
job-printing and stationery store and
became involved in the stamp trade.
By the age of 19, he published his first
stamp catalog: "Descriptive Price Catalogue
of All Known Postage Stamps of the
United States and Foreign Countries."
Seebeck soon made the transition from
selling stamps to collectors to actually
producing postage stamps, beginning in
1879, for the Dominican Republic and the
Colombian state of Bolivar. In 1884,
Seebeck sold his stamp business and
used the money to buy into the Hamilton
Bank Note Engraving and Printing Company.
Banknote companies were printers that
specialized in printing security paper,
including banknotes, postage stamps,
stock certificates and bonds, but
Hamilton's major business was printing
100s of millions of tickets for New
York's public transportation systems.
Over a number of years, Seebeck's
position with the company was listed
variously as secretary, business
director, president, general manager
and agent. His role in the company
is perhaps best exemplified by the
fact that the stamps in question are
called "Seebecks" rather than "Hamiltons."
Seebeck had an important connection to
Central America in that his brother-in-law
Ernest Schernikow was the New York consul
for El Salvador and Honduras.
In 1889, Seebeck left for Central America
with letters of introduction from Schernikow
to talk with government officials about
an idea for a stamp printing arrangement
that would benefit all concerned.
Simply put, Seebeck would print stamps
and postal stationery through Hamilton
for free for the countries that accepted
his terms. In return, at the end of their
year or semester of validity, the stamps
would be demonetized and the remainders
would be returned to Seebeck for disposal
in the philatelic market.
In the event that there were not enough
remainders to meet demand from collectors,
Seebeck and Hamilton were to be allowed
to print more from the original plates
to meet that demand. It was this potential
additional printing of hundreds of thousands
of stamps for purely collector purposes
that earned the Seebecks their evil
reputation in the collecting community
of the time. Collectors have attempted
to distinguish the original printings
of the Seebecks from the reprints, but
without great success. Stamps of the same
issue were often printed on both water-
marked and unwatermarked paper, as well
as on papers of different textures and
thicknesses. Which are the originals and
which are the reprints is often a matter
of controversy.
Seebeck's first stop in Central America was
Guatemala, but the postal officials of that
country refused his offer. Seebeck then
proceeded to El Salvador where he signed a
10-year contract with that nation March 27,
1889, to produce under the terms and
conditions outlined. From 1890 to 1899,
Hamilton produced for El Salvador 166
postage stamps, 152 Official stamps,
56 postage due stamps, five parcel post
stamps, two acknowledgement of receipt
stamps, and four registered mail stamps.
The Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue
of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940 notes that
the last Seebeck issue for El Salvador
in 1899, Scott 199-209, were not placed
in use. The catalog values them only in
unused condition. Stamps from this issue
were later locally validated with a wheel
overprint, issued and used. In addition
to postage stamps, Seebeck and Hamilton
also produced Salvadoran postal stationery,
including 100 envelopes, 32 wrappers and
39 postal cards.
>From El Salvador, Seebeck traveled to
Honduras, where he signed a contract with
the postal authorities on April 20, 1889.
Not all Seebecks were printed by Hamilton.
As a condition of his contract with the
Honduran government, Seebeck was to receive
the remainders of the previous stamp issue
of 1878 (Scott 30-36), which had been
printed by the National Bank Note Co.
Seebeck judged that the remainders of
this issue were insufficient for his needs,
so when he returned to New York in 1889,
he persuaded the Honduran consul to have
another printing made at his expense.
The new printing of the 1878 issue was
done by the American Bank Note Co,
which had absorbed National in 1879.
The stamps were shipped to Honduras,
where they were turned over to Seebeck's
agent and shipped back to New York.
These stamps are listed as Scott 30a-36a.
The first new Honduran stamps produced
by Seebeck were issued Jan. 6, 1890.
Honduras issued the fewest Seebeck stamps
of any of the contracting countries.
In all, it issued 49 postage stamps and
22 Official stamps. The Official stamps
were never placed in use, and the Scott
Classic catalog values them only in
unused condition. In postal stationery,
Seebeck produced 18 envelopes,
16 wrappers and 16 postal cards for
Honduras. On Oct. 26, 1893, Honduras
withdrew from the compact with
Seebeck, the first country to do so.
The Gen. Trinidad Cabanas issue
(Scott 76-86) of August 1893 was
the last Seebeck issue for Honduras.
>From Honduras, Seebeck traveled to
Nicaragua where he signed a contract
with the Nicaraguan postal authorities
on May 4, 1889.
The first set of Nicaraguan Seebecks
(Scott 20-29) were issued Jan. 1, 1890.
They were inscribed "Correos y
Telegrafos" and were valid for postage
and telegraph fees. Under the Seebeck
contract, Nicaragua issued 128 postage
stamps, 139 Official stamps, 41 postage
due stamps and 66 telegraph stamps.
In addition to adhesive stamps,
Nicaraguan postal stationery produced
by Seebeck included 41 envelopes, 26
wrappers and 40 postal cards.
The last Seebeck issue for Nicaragua
was the Justice series (Scott 110-20)
issued Jan. 1, 1899, although Nicaragua
terminated its contract in 1898. After
concluding his contracts with these
three Central American nations, Seebeck
returned to New York.
A similar contract was negotiated on
Seebeck's behalf by an agent, Henry
Etheridge, with the government of
Ecuador on Oct. 16, 1890. The first
Seebeck stamps of Ecuador were issued
Jan. 1, 1892. Like Honduras and
Nicaragua, Ecuador terminated its
contract with Seebeck before it
expired at the end of the 10-year period.
The contract was terminated Nov. 8, 1895,
and the last Ecuadoran Seebeck stamps
(Scott 55-62H) were issued in February 1896.
Ecuador's Seebecks total 40 postage stamps,
37 Official stamps 14 postage due stamps
and 43 telegraph stamps. Seebeck also
produced 14 revenue stamps in two sets
for Ecuador in 1893-95. Seebeck's postal
stationery output for Ecuador was 12
envelopes, two wrappers and six postal
cards.
Seebeck died June 23, 1899, at the age
of 42, in the final year of his contract
with El Salvador.
It is not known how many reprints Seebeck
was directly responsible for and how many
were produced by someone else with access
to the original plates after Seebeck's
death. Schernikow, who was an officer of
Hamilton, is a likely suspect in the
creation of millions of Seebeck reprints.
Most of the Seebecks are still cheap.
Postally used stamps are generally more
valuable, but favour cancels and forged
cancels abound, so collecting the stamps
in used condition is not for the faint of
heart.
The condemnation of Seebeck in the
collecting community was nearly universal
during his lifetime, although some
defended the stamps for their beauty.
Present day collectors tend to be more
accepting and forgiving.
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Posted 03/06/2011 10:40 am
