2 Cent George Washington Embossed Envelope Die

I just got a die used to emposs the 2 cent Geo. Washington envelope and need to find out what it s valued at. I have full provenance back to the manufacturer.

It is from the turn of the century (1900) and looks to be made of copper?

copper is a very soft metal and would never be used to make a die. We are going to need pics to see what it is you have.

I hope this helps. The die has been glued to the 4x5 card

Very nice, looks authentic to me.

Didn't know that you could purchase a die like that. And are they legal to own? Do other board members have dies in their collections?

This came to me from a collection of American Indian, WWI, Masonic and other items put together from 1880 to 1936 in Wyoming. It was originally given to a dentist for the Crow Indian Agency since he was already well known as a collector. It has been in the family every since.

So, no one has any idea on this? Any info at all? I guess I can throw it up on ebay this weekend.

I don't know of any answers for you, but the above quote mentioned in a previous post seems valid in my opinion. If you are not 100% sure that it is legal to own this item, posting it for sale on ebay could prompt law enforcement review of the item.

Not that anyone is going to go through the trouble to defraud the USPS out of a 2 cent envelope, but if the die is illegal to own in the first place, it could be a risk you may want to carefully consider before posting.

Although this doesn't directly relate to the die shown in this thread, I found this link to be an interesting read of a reprinted newspaper article from the 1930's, suggesting that as of the date of that article, every stamped envelope in the US came from Dayton, Ohio:

http://www.daytonhistorybooks.com/stamps.html

They are indeed illegal to own even broken. In fact, if it is a legitimate die (and it certainly looks to be one) It would be like owning a printing plate for a dollar bill. It IS currency after all, and If I was you I would certainly take care on researching this item and would suggest just keeping it in the family. Real or not it's an awesome piece. Congrats!

I do not want it in my collection. I am trying to contact the National Postal Museum to see what I need to do. I'll post what they say when I hear back from them.

Oh, and thank you all for your help and advice on this piece.

Thanks for posting the pic docpaleo. I would love to collect that sort of postal paraphernalia, legal or not. I think you're very fortunate to have it, but by the sounds of it, it's obviously not for everyone. Perhaps donating it to the Postal Museum is the way to go. Then all sorts can enjoy it.

OK, I just got a reply from the National Postal Museum and here is what they said:

From: Piazza, Daniel
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2012 7:38 AM
To: 'whitey-x@att.net'
Subject: RE: Contact Us - General Question

Hi Jim,



Your message was referred to me for a reply. I am not aware of any restriction on owning such a die so long as you do not use it to produce anything. The Mercantile Corporation of Dayton, Ohio did indeed produce postal stationery after the turn of the twentieth century. Feel free to send the jpg and I will see if there is anything else I can tell you. Are you interested in possibly donating the item to the postal museum?



Dan Piazza



_________________________________________________

Daniel A. Piazza

Curator of Philately

Smithsonian National Postal Museum

MRC 570 POB 37012

Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

202-633-4737 (voice)

202-633-9393 (fax)

piazzad@si.edu



Fire & Ice: Hindenburg and Titanic

http://postalmuseum.si.edu/fireandice

March 22, 2012 to January 6, 2014




So on that note does anyone want to take a stabe at what this might be worth? I'm considering donating it to the museum, depends...

Doc