The Joseph Antizzo Collection Of Embossed Revenue Stamped Paper

For my collecting friends that have an interest in this material:

https://siegelauctions.com/sales.php?sale_no=1210

I know Joe Antizzo very well for many years and have been fortunate enough to see many items of his collection and have them handed to me to examine. Amazing history.

i echo revcollector in that I too have had that opportunity to examine and learn from seeing his world class material.

Those would be an awesome addition to any collection. Wonder what the final sale price will be.

Joe Antizzo has sought out the best embossed revenue material for many years. In many cases the embossings are in the best condition available. He sought to obtain as many of the listed items in the Scott Specialized and I suspect that this collection is the most complete collection that has ever been formed.

The great collectors of the previous generation published how complete they were on the First Federal Issue in a periodical that circulated in the late 1930's - young collectors like Henry Tolman and Morton Dean Joyce. Joe has been fortunate to surpass them all.

This auction catalog will be a de-facto reference book for this area.

The quality of this very scarce to rare material is amazing.

Yes, the Siegel auction catalog will be an important reference book for the future, but this will not supplant the four works by the late Admiral Combs that are cited at the beginning of the auction catalog. Joe Antizzo sought the best examples of each Scott catalog number and some of the collateral material such as provisionals. He did that better than anyone in the past. Admiral Combs dug into the laws and sought, for example, multiple copies of many of the Supervisor Seals used for imported distilled spirits, imported wine, imported tea, and domestically produced distilled spirits (the subject of which was the Whiskey Rebellion). Combs's approach to collecting was different. Neither approach is superior to the other; they are simply different approaches to collecting.

These are amazing relics of early American fiscal history.

The Antizzo auction was held this afternoon. Realizations seemed to be a bit hit or miss. The Massachusetts colonial material sold for strong prices, while the New York colonial material was soft. The Stamp Act revenues had strong bidding, but were still soft relative to their rarity and historical importance. The first federal issue had spirited bidding on the truly rare items (less than 5 known) and the remainder lots seemed to do well, but many of the items in the $300 - $1,000 catalog value range did not sell. The licenses to sell liquor and wines and licenses to operate a still had very strong bidding.

I thought it generally strong, with only about a dozen items that did not sell. It's always been a specialized market. The still/liquor stamps are very scarce and do have some serious collectors.

I didn't get anything but I underbid a handful of lots. It wasn't a pressing auction for me but I do enjoy the embossed revenue field.

Agree that the market appeared mixed. If I had been paying closer attention there was at least one of the NY colonials that would have sold higher...

I recently acquired some of the Joseph Antizzo pieces. Would be great to connect with others that either participated in the auction or came across pieces at a later date.

If you go to GASS, then look in the Champion of Champions exhibits, you will see several items that were formerly in Joe Antizzo's collection.

Thank you for the information will check it out!