Ro-56 Byam Carlton Wrapper

I pick up this oddity today.
RO-56 Byam Carlton Wrapper.
An interesting piece to add to my collection.

these come in two listed varieties. the right block of letters reading up or as in yours down. you have a very nice example.
a recent seigel sale contained a spectacular collection of byam carlton wrappers that was a real pleasure to see.

The only thing I found on Siegel was a fold-over and a couple collections with numerous copies of RO56 (no pictures). They seemed more concerned with collecting the dates on it. Are these that common that they can collect dates? Any idea of the value?

The one you illustrated is a RO54 instead of RO56. There are 2 varieties of RO54. In the other variety, the block of text on the right reads from bottom to top versus top to bottom. They are indeed "common" enough to collect dates.

Eric Jackson has a number of both available on his website. They will give you an approximate value.

RO-54 has two men looking right, not left. I think it is RO-56.

You are correct. Sorry about that.

bob
i was referring to the collection lot. the ro56 wrappers can be collected by date. that group may never be duplicated even given that the b & c wrappers of that type are fairly common and I am happy that I took the time to view both the lot and the sale. miscuts and foldovers are not common on any of the b &c wrappers. the boston book gives figures for their usage. folds are common and indicate use. some dates are scarce but as far as I know no list exists to be checked against. undated examples exist.

That's a nice and intact copy jaxom.

I've not considerer collecting the different dates, but I did get a lot at auction which had a bunch. So it's tempting. Does anyone know how many different dates there were for the various wrappers??

RO56 was issued monthly starting January 1, 1876 and runs through October 1, 1880. There is also one with no date. RO55 has at least 40 dates. RO54 has 80 dates listed. RO52 has at least 23 dates listed.

There are a number of printing varieties within the dates also. All of the types mentioned above are known with stitch watermarks. Pre-printed paper folds aren't common but do exist. At least in the case of RO56, unused multiples existed making it hard to determine if the "miscut" stamps were a result of the printer or the result of an early collector making rarities.

Thanks sideshowbob, that is a pile of wrappers! I won't bother making pages for all of those. I do have the RO56 without a date. Seems like that should have its own #.

i had not known of the uncut multiples of ro56. there is a question of whether or not the undated copies should be called proofs or remainders. they are not frequently found. I do agree that they should have a listing if the chicken and egg question can be resolved at this late date. I at least wondered if the dates were entered when the plate was made or later from a separate plate, or if an earle and steel patent multipart plate was used.
I have not seen a lot of miscut items but given the numbers issued they should exist and the issue of who made them will probably never be solved.
where did you find the basis for the issue dates of these wrappers?

I do not think RO56 has a separate number for the text going up or going down. I think they should have their own number.

Sorry for the confusion. The block reading up or down is for RO54. Not RO56. 56 only reads the way shown in your scan.

RO56 only reads in one direction. RO54 reads both ways, and is listed as such.

Most of the numbers I quoted are from an old article by Clarence Eagle. From my own collection, I have around 80 varieties of RO56 but that includes stitch watermarks, freak printings, paper folds, a strip of 3, etc. I don't recall if I have every month between the two dates quoted above but I am really close if I don't.