"Steele Box" - Covers

Hello everyone,

Just a quick intro. I have a box from around the 1880's and 1890's that contains a lot of paper. In it are stamps, covers and so on. If you would like to read more about it you can look to my profile located here http://goscf.com/t/76811.

As per a request I plan on posting anything related to what I have under the appropriate sections in the forum. I'm new to this and of course my first post was really not in the right place, or maybe part of it was. I now realize that I did everything wrong, post 1940's does not include 1800's items, stamps does not mean covers, etc..

Here is a link to my first post which does include a cover, old and beat up but I am hoping that it is still entering to some of you. http://goscf.com/t/76814.

Thanks,


---Mark

Here's another cover from the "Steele Box". As you know I am completely new to this so I don't know much at all. I would just like to learn what it is, if anything that makes this cover interesting. Please know that the letter inside talks a bit about playing baseball in the 1800's. The odd part is that it looks like it's stamped on the front with a date of July 4th, 1892 and on the back it made it to it's destination on July 10th, 1993? Did it really take pretty much a year for letter to get where they were going?

The original cancel date is Jul 4 1993. It just looks like a 2. The letter is dated 93 as is the receiving cancel.

Hi wkusau,

Would this be considered a cover even though it does not have anything fancy about it? Also, is it a common uninteresting cover? If it's not something that folks would be interested in then I will steer away from posting items like this. I don't want to bore folks.

Also, thanks for clearing up the year thing, I did think it was 1892 but as you pointed out the date on the letter itself was where I should have looked too. It was a dead giveaway.

Thanks for the pointers.

---Mark

Hi folks,

To me this is one of may favorite items in the box I guess since I had a fascination as a kid with Trains and Firefighting. As a kid I would always look for the steam engine photos and the real thing BUT what I never knew at the time was that the fire engines were pulled by horses and powered by steam. I was pretty amazed at that when I found out. With that said here is an example of one of two "like" covers found in the box from the Silsby Manufacturing Co., Senca Falls, NY. This happens to be the one with then stamp still attached. The other photo is the top of the letter that was fond in the envelope. The detail in my opinion amazing even though the cover / letter is discolored somewhat..

Any comments or feedback are welcomed.

---Mark

Those are great covers to me. Very interesting. The first one in particular has a lot going for it with the Fort Stanton cancel and early baseball related letter. The steam fire engines advertising are also excellent. Love it!

There's a lot going for both these covers. Covers don't often have their contents anymore so we get additional historical context with both of these.

The Fort Stanton item is from the territorial period so there is collector and historical interest on that basis. It's from a fort, that people also collect, although at this time, it was a federal tuberculosis hospital for sailors, mostly. So if someone here might be looking for the sender in Army records, if John Fraser was a patient, the sender is likely to be in old Navy records.

That's a nice clear strike of the cancel, too.

The Silsby cover and letterhead are beautiful examples of the commercial engravers art of the period. Again, it's great to have both together. Note that the letter is typed, just becoming commonly used about this time.

Your instincts on picking things to show are good. Keep them coming!

Hello all,

I was going to put up a different cover but then I came across this and I was pretty happy with it once I realized who's signature was on it. What I could not find is the type of stamps this is?

I found this on Wikipedia....



While I was inserting the cover back into the sleeve light hit it and I could see a repeated watermark across the envelope. See image below.

Your cover from the Thomas Brady is an official mail cover issued in 1877. As the paper color appears pink on my computer screen I can't say which Scott number. It could be UO14, black on white, UO15, black on amber, or UO16, blue on amber. The stamp indicia does not have a value in it! The watermark is watermark 4 which was in use from 1877 to 1882. UO14 is the cheapest being $10 for the most common size. UO15 and UO16 are more valuable being $60 for any variety. The contents make this cover even more interesting and, of course, more valuable than the price(s) quoted previously. Watermarks were used (in the 19th century) to deter counterfeiting.

Hello jobi01,

Unfortunately I took the photos under poor incandescent lighting. The photo below shows pretty much the color in natural daylight.

I thank you for pointing me to the stamp, it is either one of the two black stamps you mention, U014 or U015. It's definitely not blue. As for the rest of the information thank you for explaining that to me. I will post more and keep that in mind as I do so..

---Mark

Adding this because of the content of the cover pus the face of the cover. It's from Low's Opera house in Providence Rhode Island. From what I can tell by using Google maps the building is no longer there.

Th Broadside that was in this cover measures about 5" wide by 30" tall. A lot was in the little envelope.

I plan on looking up some of the information on the broadside to find out if any of the people are know to be famous. If I find anything out that is interesting I will add it to this post.

Please say "when" if you want me to pause posting of what is in the "Steele Box".

That's a marvelous theatrical poster which would appear to be in superb condition [edited: except at the top I belatedly observe] in part because it has presumably been folded up and out of light exposure. With the envelope it has some provenance which contributes to the authenticity. Very nice.

Hello Jleb1979,

Thank you, I am glad you like the poster. I was surprised that it was all one piece. It is crisp and it feels like it was printed yesterday. You are correct the very top has a missing piece, it was not in the envelope. It was away for years in the box and I also keep every one of these paper in a dark dry place in the binder and in the "Steele Box" this way everything stays together. I think that's the best way for me to store them.

As I take things out for photos I carefully handle them and I try my not to touch the papers or stamps with my bare hands as much as possible. That's really the best I can do. Hopefully they stay the way they are.

I'm glad that the items are getting attention and that people are enjoying them while teaching me. There is a great group of people here.

---Mark

At the bottom of the broadside, "The Great Herrmann" is advertised. Does the covered-up text indicate this is Alexander Herrmann, a famous magician of the period who was in the US by this time?

Great photography, by the way!

Here's one more for the day. The company was used to get to Coney Island for the Newton Steamer Fire company entertainment excursions.

I have also included a handbill/broadside that was paired up with one of these excursions. Just not this one. The broadside was not included in this envelope. It was only a part of the big picture of getting to Coney Island.

Please know that I have found the stamp in a pile of stamps that was separated from the cover. It's now back where it should be, back home.









---Mark

Hi hy-brasil,

Just above the part that says "The Great Herrmann" it appears that that was the next act that would be at the theatre for 3 night beginning on April, 21st.

I can tell you that Charles Steel who had these papers was into the theatre. He travelled into New York City quite often. I have some handbills, programs, full theatre seating plans (large) for plays like "The Block Crook" (there are multiple programs), "Helen Potter Pleiades" (Impersonators Sarah Bernhardt, ), "Jack Harkaway at Sea", Haverly's Minstrels, "The Bassets - Bric-A-Brack" George W. Hyatt, and so on. The theatres range from Olympic Theatre, "The Ladies Theatrical Boutique" Olympic Theatre "Streets of New York", Niblo's Garden, Grand Opera House (Mr. G. L Fox), Booth's Theatre KIT, the Arkansas Traveller" starring "Mr F.S ChanFrau, Vales Lyceum "On the Brink" & as separate program for "Still Waters Run Deep", Olympic Theater "Humpty Dumpty", Waverly Theatre Elsie Holt Bursque Troupe, Lucretta Borgia M. D., Bowen Opera ouse in Cooperstown, NY, Margaret Tennant. Large seating plans for Niblo's Garden (maybe 20" x 17", Grand Opera House, Olympic Theatre,. Whew.... There is even a bit more as well.
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