Is This Cover With Scott #226 Bogus? It Looks Strange To Me!

Hello All,

I have run into a cover that looks as if someone is attempting to deceive about the 1890 green 10c Daniel Webster stamp to me. For one the cancel on the stamp looks like a different cancel than the one on the envelope. The second thing that has me thinking this is that the bottom right corner of the stamp is missing, there is a slight tear, but it has been darkened in with a pencil or ink in that corner to hide the fact that the stamp is torn, when looking at it under magnification the corner is obviously torn and missing. Here is the front and back of the cover:




The envelope has no contents, the Wesleyan Female College aspect looks interesting. I am unsure what to do with this envelope. Is it worth anything to anyone? Thank you for any information or observations you may have regarding this suspicious looking cover. Best, Julie

Agreed. The 226 10c of 1890 is cxl'd with NY double oval, which were quite common around the turn of the 19th century. And it has definitely been added. The original cxl that the stamp has been placed over is a circular date stamp. I can't see the date, but looks to be much earlier. If the notation on the left is correct, maybe 1854/59?

I suspect the stamp was removed for collection.

Note: I was looking at the address and seeing RM Colley. Then I realized this is a letter from Wesleyan College in Murf NC to Randolph Macon College in Richmond VA. Which is pretty cool. Way south of NY, to be sure!

Found this from a Siegel sale

Lot: College Covers. Nine, incl. No. 26 with part right imprint and Spencertown Academy corner card, No. 26 with blue Wesleyan Female College cameo design.

With the No. 26 puts the date notation right on the money. The lof of nine covers sold for $250

Thank you so much craigk for posting a reply - now that you have mentioned that the #226 is canceled with a NY double oval I am able to make out most of the cancel on the envelope, it is circular as you say, and says Mufreesboro N.C. around the inside of the circle and in the center I can make out "Ap" for April and the date is 6 - I have to admit I have never figured out how to tell the year of a cancel when they just put the day (and sometimes the time) in the center of the circle - I am at a loss as to how to figure out the year.

The note written in hand under the Wesleyan stamp says: "1857", "Apr 5", "Lin" - I believe the "Lin" refers to the type of paper used in the envelope, I believe there is a linen pattern on the surface of the paper that makes up the envelope, when looking at it under the light there is a weave pattern - or maybe it is possible that there are linen fibers in the paper also? I will research the envelope paper a bit further.

That is so cool that the addressee is at the Randolf Macon College in Virginia - I don't think I would ever have been able to make the addressee out correctly without your help, I was having trouble making it out - so thank you very much for your help! I very much appreciate your reply, Julie

Morning jchrisler and all,

Yep, the stamp is from a NYC registered cover from the late 1890's based on its marking and rate. Two cents first class plus eight cents for registration.

One other note. Randolph Macon college at that time was located in Boydton Va, just north of the NC border. So the two schools were very close. R M was relocate to Ashland Va, 10 miles north of Richmond after the Civil War in 1868.

One could speculate, or romanticize, that the letter was from a Wesleyan girl to her boyfriend "Mr William X" at Randolph Macon. With respect to his youth and the date of the letter, it would not be a surprise if William went on to serve in Army of the Confederacy. Perhaps as an officer.

Thank you hoosierboy and craigk for your comments - I appreciate the confirmation regarding the cancel on the stamp. I also like your idea that it could be a Wesleyan girl writing to her boyfriend - I looked at his name under magnification, his name is "Wilbur F. Daoir" - his last name is particularly hard to make out. He probably did end up in the confederate army after all - I would agree with you Craig on that.

Now that I know this stamp does not belong on this envelope, I am wondering if I should remove it from the cover since it really doesn't belong there? The stamp is semi-loose anyway, one corner is not sticking to the envelope. Anyone have an opinion about that? If so, I would appreciate hearing what your opinion is. Thank you all so much, Julie

Yes, you can remove it. It will look so much better.

I was kind of thinking the name looked more like 'Davis', a much more common surname.

In fact, I'm going to go out on a ledge and say the name on the envelope is not William but is actually Wilbur. Wilbur F Davis.

And in the RM Archives "The Men of Randolph Macon", I found this:

***Wilbur Fisk Davis, Class of 1857 (A.B.) and 1860 (A.M.)
Davis enlisted in the Charlottesville (VA) Light Artillery on March 20, 1862. He was promoted to corporal on April 30, 1863 and then to sergeant major a month later on June 1, 1863. he was taken prisoner on May 12, 1864 at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, held at Fort Delaware, and paroled on October 31, 1864. He rejoined his unit in December 1864, but was transferred to the Veteran Reserve, or Invalid, Corps' Topographical Engineer Department in February 1865.

Davis was a teacher in Westmoreland County in 1870. He became a Methodist minister in 1876 and served several circuits in Virginia, finally settling back in Westmoreland County, where the 1910 census lists him as "Preacher of Gospel" and where he died in 1912 and is buried in the Hickory Hill Cemetery. "

No need to research the paper type. That is not a collector's note. The notation is original, what we call docketing, usually written by the recipient to note the date received. So this is an 1857 cover, local usage from Murfreesboro. The (embossed?) corner card/return address is certainly from that era. Without contents, docketing is all we have to date many older covers.

Wow, I am so impressed craigk, you found out what happened to Wilbur F.Davis - and he did join the confederate army, and he did survive the civil war and go on to live his life - that is nice to know. That is amazing to me that you found this out - I am thinking I will not be any good at this hobby until I learn to take that extra step like you did to look up the name in the RM archives - that takes a willingness to take things further than the obvious, hopefully I can learn to do research in the same way - I admire that!

Thank you hy-brazil for the information about docketing - so if I understand you correctly, that notation would have been made the date the letter was received by Wilbur F. Davis? That confuses me because the date on the original cancel is Apr 6, while the date in the notation is Apr 5. Maybe I am not reading the date on the cancel correctly? And the return address is embossed, it is stamped on there so hard the paper is partially cut out in that pattern on the other side of the envelope.

I did look up linen paper, and incidentally, I believe that is what this envelope is made of, it has a weave pattern which is found on linen paper on both sides of the paper making up the envelope.

Now I am unsure how to remove this stamp, looked at it closer, the stamp is damaged, torn, along the bottom edge, that is why it is loose there. I am not sure how to get this stamp off the envelope without damaging the cancel or the envelope beneath - or even the stamp. Any advice on how to do this? I will look up to see what I can find about removing stamps and keeping the cover intact. Julie

I saw the same thing but I'm thinking more that the date in the cancel is a smashed or smeared 5 as there seems to be a ending dot on the tail of a 5 rather than just a stray blob of ink in the middle of a 6. People also write dates wrong, set dates wrong in cancels and read cancel dates wrong, so nothing is an absolute in dating this.

While the original cancel ink, printing and writing should be colorfast after all these years, I'm not sure about the ink used to fill the stamp corner. You can test that by putting something waterproof inside the envelope (plastic, aluminum foil) with a tissue or paper towel between it and the envelope front. Then very lightly dampen a corner of a tissue with (preferably) distilled water and touch it to the mark to see if anything transfers to the tissue over the span of a few minutes. If ink bleeds onto the tissue, stop, let everything dry. This may start to become more trouble than it's worth if you're selling this, where you would merely say "stamp and ink mark does not belong on cover" and leave it at that. I'll continue if you decide to do the test and the added ink is stable but be aware you still might end up with a blob of glue where the stamp was.

Julie- Don't let all this deter you from becoming a collector. You may enjoy it far more than you think now. I was intrigued because I live in Richmond VA & Randolph Macon is only a few miles away. The city has (obviously) major historical ties to the Civil War and it's pretty much impossible to avoid those ties even today.

Depending on your interests, you can buy a barrel of stamps for a $1. And an album for not much more. If you go with US, you can buy mint stamps for less than their face value. So, if your enthusiasm wanes, you can at least slap them on an envelope and use them for postage. Look up 'mint face' on ebay stamps and that will give you an idea. Start small and you will learn as you go.

Oh, check this out. I bet Wilbur & his Wesleyan girlfriend got married and had a family! Also, the Conferate army did not award medals to for bravery on the field of battle. They did start a 'Roll of Honor' in late 1862 but it was sporadic in nature. The highest honor bestowed on a soldier or unit was to be 'named' by a superior officer. An individual cited in a field report by Robert E Lee for conduct above and beyond was equivalent to being awarded a Silver Star or a Distinguished Service Cross. And, of course, there is this:

Thank you both again, hy-brasil and craigk for your replies.

hy-brasil, I looked at the cancel on the envelope again, and it looks like the date could be a smudged 5 in the original cancel on the envelope. I have looked up how to remove the stamp, supposedly if I pat a bit of water on the stamp and microwave it for 20 minutes it should come off. I have only soaked stamps off of paper before, never have used this microwave method and am not confident that it won't smudge the ink used on the stamp as you have pointed out. My intention is to eventually sell this cover, it does present a little problem with the wrong stamp on it, I am thinking I may just leave the stamp on the envelope - I don't think I will mess with it for fear of damaging the original envelope. Thank you for telling me how to proceed should I want to remove the stamp - but I like your suggestion of leaving it there better. Thank you so much for all your help with this, I really appreciate your help.

craigk, you have been fabulous with the research on the background of this cover - I was thinking the same thing you are, that Wilbur F Davis married his Wesleyan girlfriend and they went on to live a good life, I hope. I am grateful you were interested in this cover, I am fascinated by the information you have found on the letter's recipient. The extra added bit that you just found is also fascinating!

As for me and the hobby, I will always be lingering around the stamp forum, I have a box of stamps that I want to put into an album someday, unfortunately I am on disability as I have a diseased spine, I must continually keep selling on ebay and Amazon to keep my head above water - being a widow, I have only myself to depend on and have to keep working for as far into the future as I can see - at least I am lucky, I have a way of making the extra money and I enjoy the way I do it. That is the only reason I would sell this particular cover, I am becoming rather fond of it, but don't like the bad Scott 226 on the envelope, it really messes it up for me, maybe someone else won't mind.

Thank you for your encouragement, and for telling me about the 'mint face' stamps on ebay, I am planning on checking it out, I do like US stamps although what I have in my little collection is mostly the world - I would like more US stamps.

So this has gotten rather lengthy, didn't mean to go on so much, thank you both for your help, Julie

The addressee identification is a stretch (given the image and no additional supporting info).
Don

Hello Don,

I can scan it back in if that is an issue. I don't understand why the information that craigk came up for Wilbur F Davis who attended Randolf Macon College in Virginia - Wilbur F Davis is the name on the envelope, R M College, Virginia is the address of the addressee. Not sure why the information about the addressee from the RM Archives isn't good enough to be additional supporting information - what else would be required to qualify as "supporting information"? I would like to know if you would be kind enough to tell me.

I am not going to do anything with this information, it is purely for me and my enjoyment, I enjoy this kind of thing. Maybe I am doing it all wrong for proper philatelic procedure, I don't know. But anyway, I am surprised at your take on this because I thought it was done quite well. This newbie is wrong again I guess. Julie