Very Interesting US Bob Auction Item

An unusual pair certificates both dated November 22, 1888 for Thomas C. Williams of the 7th district of Indiana.

The first revokes his commission as a Storekeeper. The second appoints him as Gauger.




(Printed in purple ink, for which I tried to increase the contrast, but it didn't help much.)

This item sold for $550 hammer price plus the 21% buyers premium.

Who collects this sort of thing? I could see it being of minor interest to Mr Williams's descendents, but I don't get the wider appeal. Of course, most would say the same of my interests …

What is GAUGER?
A surveying officer under the customs, excise, and internal revenue laws,appointed to examine all tuns, pipes, hogsheads, barrels and tierces of wine, oil, andother liquids, and to give them a mark of allowance, as containing lawful measure.There are also private gangers in large seaport towns, who are licensed by governmentto perform the same duties. Rapal. & L.

There are stamp collectors just interested in the stamp, mint or used with no other interest than to fill a hole.

Then there are the postal history collectors who want the stamps on the items mailed and with contents if possible and where the story far exceeds the "I got the stamp" mindset.

This, the item in the OP, is an example of the "postal history" for revenue stamps. Not all postal or revenue history is flat. Here is an example of thick postal history:


Early 1913 fencing sample weighing over two and under three ounces sent parcel post at the rate of 1 cent per ounce, regardless of domestic distance. Use likely Jan-May 1913 prior to the release of the three cent parcel post stamp. Addresses on the other side of which I have not yet taken a photo, this photo was from the auction listing I won years ago.

But here there's no stamp, unless the embossing constitutes a "stamp".

The item that sold is that which started this topic. Here is a link to the item: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/ite...-box-and-can

The stamp is at the bottom left in the first image.

As for who collects this type of item? Stamp collectors, packaging collectors, distillery history collectors, Peoria Illinois collectors, and many others. It is a fascinating piece that has survived in wonderful condition.

See first post by John Becker. Direct your attention to his first photo. On the left side of the box is a stamp affixed and placed above the words, "The Peoria Corporation." It is a USIR (United States Internal Revenue) Alcohol Tax Stamp. This is an image of the item up for auction in the OP.

Here the stamp "implies" contents but when you have contents, one need not "imply" one shows.

Now if you were referring to the two letters of appointment shown by John Becker, they relate to the authority of Mr. Williams to review and pass judgement on the contents of said containers and appropriate taxation of same. No different that the letters of appointment for Postmasters, clerks as well as other postal officials and employees. These add to the background of the authority they have or had including bonding, payment of salary and related postal history.

As "parcelpostguy" I have stamp order forms and receipts for ordering Parcel Post and Parcel Post Postage Due Stamps as well as the Parcel Post Tax Stamps as required by the WWI tax law, both by the public and by postmasters. All part of the postal history, stamps attached or not, of the Parcel Post System. What can be learned for those documents is interesting and spot on for Parcel Post study, but not appropriate for this thread. Likewise, COD, and Insurance tags for example help explain the handling aspects of mail matter but do not necessarily carry stamps.

I do. To many of us, there is a whole lot more to postage and revenue stamps than "just stamps"



Instead of paraphrasing, I have scanned several pages of a small book from 1905. The chapter on "Officers and their duties" outlines the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Deputy Commissioner, Collectors, Deputy Collectors, Revenue Agents, Gaugers, and Storekeepers.
Pages 18-19 define the duties of a Gauger.
Pages 20-21 define the duties of a Storekeeper.
Page 23 details when the two positions are combines.

I was referring to the letters to Mr Williams. Each to his/her own

Picasa Auto Contrast.

Yes I could have adjusted the contrast a bunch more artificially, just ask. Here is a side-lighted and contrast-enhanced image of the embossed seal:

Reading: THESAUR. AMER. SEPTENT. SIGIL.

wiki
For nearly two hundred years, the Seal bore the Latin inscription, "Thesaur. Amer. Septent. Sigil." which translates "The Seal of the Treasury of North America." This inscription was changed on the present design to read "The Department of the Treasury."