Some Nice Revenue-Affixed Checks/Sight Drafts

Just arrived from ebay. Two pairs of documents, one purchased for the cancels, and the other for the interesting nature of the documents themselves.

First is a pair of checks with great vignettes and oval handstamp cancels. The second appears to have been issued after the business moved to Golden, IL (or opened a second location). Both also feature nice circular bank PAID handstamps.




Second is a pair of consecutive (sight drafts?) from the Royal Neighbors of America, a fraternal beneficiary society founded by women in 1895. Note the references to 'Supreme Receiver' on front and 'Supreme Board of Managers' on back.

The bottom pair are receipts, they only become sight drafts upon surrender of a benefit certificate. It was a fraternity for life insurance, which was a fairly common occurrence in those days; this group still exists and it is a substantial one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_...s_of_America

The Royal Neighbors of America items reminded me of a check I bought on ebay some years ago for just a buck or two. It's a fairly ugly handwritten check with a heavily inked cancel that almost obscures the stamp (R15c). But I was intrigued by the name of the bank, which was unusual to me: Institution for the Savings of Merchant's [sic] Clerks. It turns out it was a fairly prominent NYC bank in the last half of the Nineteenth Century and became the Union Square Savings Bank in 1905.

I've got one of those as well, although mine is entirely handwritten and the stamp is 3rd issue.

Here's an example of another fraternal organization, again with the mystical "secret" terminology.

Very cool. I love that kind of stuff.

The handwritten document is very interesting. It is dated September 22. 1871 but the cancel is dated September 22, 1872, which would be a pretty late usage for a first issue revenue. I also wonder whether by writing it out the specific way it is if it is not technically a check any more, but is a receipt for payment. At this point it doesn't matter tax wise, but a few years earlier it might have. Fun document.

I really like the big buck.