Help With S. Co. Narcotic Handstamp

Question, should RJA22-25 be $2-$10 and not $20.00 or has Ron located another unknown valve. As for the dollar stamp we know E L. lilly and Powers_ Weightman_ Rosengarten used theses valves.

I have corrected the typo. Yes, I am quite aware of P-W-R using RJA21 with the Philadelphia handstamp, McKesson and Robbins on an alternative to the NY 2nd district handstamp, and Eli Lily on the Indiana handstamp.

Just to bring some closure to this old post, the S. Co. overprint has been identified as from Solomons Company in Savannah, Georgia.

Jim

How was this done?

I looked at every single company name that started with S and had only Company at the end (i.e. no "&" and no other initials), in a multi-hundred page directory of manufacturers of drugs in the U.S., that was printed in 1916.

Then I looked up each possibility to see if they existed in 1919 and if they made a product that required a narcotic stamp.

This company is the only one that met these criteria.

The product that they probably used the narcotic stamps on was called "Dr. Hoffman's Celebrated Mixture for Gonorrhoea," which was basically a concoction made of alcohol and opium.

Jim

James Drummond, excellent research, I just love researching cancels.

Again, excellent work.

Now to get this interesting cancel listed in the Scott's Specialized.

For those that are interested in these types of stamps, and/or would like to learn how one method of researching 100 year old, initial-only overprints can be done, the American Revenuer may include an article about this stamp in the near future.

Jim

Reviving an old thread since I had a recommendation from a fellow SCF member that I should post the certificate I received for this.



As everyone is aware, there is also a second copy known. So, something to keep an eye out for in traversing the stamp shows around the country. It would be interesting to see if any more surface.

Also, as a note the certificate is in error on the date as it is obvious the date is Mar 21, 1919 not Mar 2. The second copy also has a Mar 21 date. Perhaps this is the only day they were used or perhaps the whole sheet was cancelled using the same date?