Some Favorite Match & Medicines?

Southpaw's thread on Victorian trade cards inspired me to dig out my small match & medicine collection. These are a few of my favorites. Please share some of yours!

Thomas Allen (RO5a)



Barham Pile Cure Co. (RS14d)



Dr. John Bull (RS43a)



Holman Liver Pad Co.l (RS127d)



Ring's Vegetable Ambrosia (RS202b)



Finally, S.N. Smith & Co. (RS225b)

There are so many I don't have that I absolutely love. One of my favorites is the Dr. Crooks too! So here are some of my favorites currently in my collection. I wish the first was in better condition - the typography is outstanding, RS157b:




RS124a



RS37b



RS63d



RS187d



RS161

Here's one more:

S.R. Van Duzer (RS249b)



And R14c with a red Van Duzer cancel

Rustyc - those 2 are great stamps. The red cancel proprietary is quite a score I would imagine!

Southpaw, it was indeed a prized score. I bought it from Richard Friedberg last July when he and Eric Jackson came to Minnesota for the first time in my memory for the annual American Revenue Association meeting that was held in conjunction with the Minnesota Stamp Expo. (Bob Hohertz, the president of the ARA, lives in Northfield, Minnesota, which is about 30-45 minutes south of the Twin Cities.)

Revcollector, thank you for the information regarding the Barham Pile Cure watermark and the Van Duzer cancel. I am pleasantly amazed at how much I have learned about my own stamps (and about many philatelic subjects beyond my collecting interests) in such a short time on this board from knowledgeable members. Thanks to wt1 as well for the fascinating historical background on a few of the patent medicines.

I just picked up the RS118P4 on ebay... seems it flew under the radar.

What a find southpaw! Thanks for allowing us to view and appreciate it.

Very nice, southpaw. I don't collect proofs as such but have a few and love the pristine print quality, as shown by yours.

Yes rusty, especially on M&Ms, which are difficult to find in REALLY nice shape! If I can find proofs at a decent price I'll buy them. I found this gem essay on ebay last year for $35. It is #73 of 300 blue copies printed for D. M. Richardson. Springer lists it as 7SA1 in his 1974 7th edition of North American Cinderella Stamps with a value of $7.50. It is in pristine condition front and back and I have no idea of it's current value. Would love a full set in all 5 colors, but the other colors were only printed in a quantity of 50 each. But you never know what you will run across!

The Richardson Match essay (and the Helmbold medicine essay) are reprints, most likely by Ernest Schernikow after he purchased the Butler and Carpenter dies in the bankruptcy sale of the Philadelphia Banknote Company in the early 1900s.

Welcome to the forum SPQR - a search of Siegel and the google turns up 1903 Schernikow reprints of essays of the 1861 issue by Toppan & Carpenter but nothing else. Maybe somebody else can shed light?

Schernikow reprinted the TC&C dies for the 1861 issue, but also reprinted other stamps, such as the Great Central Fair sanitary fair stamps (Scott WV11 - WV13) that were printed by Butler & Carpenter. The Richardson and Helmbold essays were probably reprinted by Schernikow. The Richardson and Helmbold essays are die essays printed on card, all the other die essays are on India. The colors for the Richardson and Helmbold essays are different from the colors of the other die essays, but are similar to some of the Schernikow essays. There are also similar essays on card of the State Coat of Arms Essays that preceded the second documentary issue.

This is my favorite M&M essay. I think it is more attractive than the issued stamp.

the mystery continues... according to Springer the Richardson essays are on card. And the Helmbold is a plate proof, not an essay. It's listed as RS118P4 (card) in my Scott Specialized. The scan is of the back of the Richardson essay. Let me know what you think...