The Chicago Exchange Preferred Cancel?

Well, that sounds like an I Love Lucy episode, but that's basically about right.

Jim

Now that is what I call reaching.

Jim,

I was referring to the handstamp provisional period. I cannot correlate any of those companies to determine if a handstamp was used in Chicago. We certainly know that Lilly used the handstamp provisionals in Indianapolis (4th Indiana district) and Kansas City, Missouri (6th Missouri district). I have never seen an Abbott (registration 1332) on a handstamp provisional nor any of the other companies that you mention.

Ron,

H. E. Bucklen


P. H. Mallen Company


Sharp and Dohme


etc.

Jim

p.s. Sharp and Dohme Chicago address:

I have a 3/15/19 Sharp and Dohme among my cancels, also on a one cent.

This firm also canceled some their stamps with just their registration number (589).

Jim

I have a few with just numbers. 6815, also 7049, also 78. I also found a four cent with an S&D cancel.

7,049 was the New York Quinine and Chemical Works Limited.

I don't have the other numbers identified yet.

Jim

Jim,

Thanks for all the illustrations. I note that none of these are on the handstamp provisionals. We have not seen Abbott, Bucklen, or Mallen cancels on the handstamp provisionals. Were there no handstamp provisionals used in Chicago?

Sharp & Dome was a venerable Baltimore firm. I know this because my wife's uncle, Milton Campbell, the president of H.K. Mulford, sold his firm to Sharp & Dohme in 1929. So how do we know that any of the Sharp & Dohme cancels originated in their Chicago location?

I also note that New York Quinine was headquartered in Brooklyn.

Finally, we know that registration number 1933 was Mallinckrodt, headquartered in St. Louis.

Ron (and anyone else with an interest in 100 year old cancels on narcotic stamps),




No, I don't believe so.

However...

According to this entry in a 1919 publication:*



Provisional handstamped narcotic stamps were available in Peoria, Illinois.

According to Mr. Google:



The distance between Chicago and Peoria was a few hours trip a century ago, so it is not inconceivable that Chicago-based manufacturers and depots did use provisional narcotic stamps.

Alas, there is only a description of the handstamp that was used, and no measurements of the "Narcotic" design.

So, at this point, there is a list of manufacturers and some images of their initial cancels, and a description of the provisional handstamp.

Maybe someone has an example that ties everything together?

Jim

* "Chronicle of New Issues and Varieties," Philip H. Ward, Jr., Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News, Volume 33, Number 42, October 18, 1919, page 374.

Interesting that they called the "narcotic" a surcharge when it is actually an overprint.

Somewhere I got the idea that the overprint below is from Peoria, Illinois.

I haven't confirmed that yet though.

Jim

Some info about the N. Y. Q. firm that most probably don't know.

See the second paragraph.

Jim

Jim-

A perusal of the 1919 annual report shows there are four collection districts in Illinois: 1st district, Chicago; 5th district, Peoria; 8th district, Springfield; and 13th district, East St. Louis.

I, too, have seen references to a handstamp used in Peoria, but every single one is mint! I have always assumed that these were favors obtained by stamp collectors, a practice that was soon in violation of regulations. Besides, the reference in the philatelic literature says they are serifed letters, which the illustrations do not show. Do your alleged Peoria handstamps have serifs?

Regardless, Chicago is the headquarters of the 1st collection district and Peoria, a center for distilling interests, is headquarters of the 5th collection district. Our other references to narcotic medicines is in Chicago. So even with the handstamp you illustrate for Peoria, they might have been different in Chicago.

At the end of the day, we still have no narcotic handstamps with a cancel attributable to a Chicago pharmaceutical company.

Jim,

A further look at the 1919 annual report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shows narcotic tax collections only in the 1st and 8th collection districts of Illinois. So there should not have been any need for narcotic handstamps from Peoria, the 5th collection district.