Time For Another Episode Of "Why Did I Bid On This Ebay Auction Lot?"

As always, I'm going to ask that our resident revenue specialists (Eric, Richard, Bart, Kent, Ron, et al.) don't give anyting away right out of the gate. I'd like to see a more general cross-section of opinion.


These are always fun discussions.

So, this revenue document lot came up for auction on ebay, and I set a snipe and waited. It's now on its way (confirmed via tracking progress), so it's safe to discuss it.

The total cost of this lot including shipping and sales tax was $88.

1. What do you think I saw that captured my interest?

2. What is the max you would pay for said lot and why? (Could be higher or lower than what I paid; not everyone perceives value or scarcity the same way.)



Everything I used to make a decision is shown below, which are the actual ebay listing images, other than the screenshot I took of the description. There was no interaction with the seller prior to auction close.

Images are numbered for easy reference.


1.



2.



3.



4.



5.



6.

Well ,nothing tripped my "it a good item radar" so I will have to wait.

Completeness of documents, variety of revenues, several overprints & cancel types, connectivity of some groupings. I think you got a deal & think I might have gone as much as $100 before backing off.

I saw two very interesting documents. Plus one or two nice but not special ones.

This item could have a story behind it.

the Manuscript/Handwritten Drafts/Checks stand out to me as unusual.

I don't recall seeing the "description of goods pledged" small documents before. I can't figure out what they are...

Future Delivery.

So close... not future delivery. ;)

Security for a debt? Or a pawnbroker ticket?
/

Revcollector is right. Pawnbroker ticket. There is one illustrated on page 6 in Mahler, taxed as an agreement. Mahler comments "the survival of such extremely ephemeral documents has to be considered a near-miracle".

Nice find!

reconstitution act of 1867? land acquisition agreements and mortgages bought in rebel states after civil war? I'm guessing on this

Since people have hit on it, the items of particular interest are not one, but two pawn tickets, extremely scarce document types. My (unpublished) census is less than 20 total reported documents from the Civil War tax period.

Typically $150-350 each depending on retailer if/when they turn up on the market.

This particular design/company is pictured in Mike's book and it's one I didn't already have.

Unlike financial transaction documents which tended to be retained in at least the medium term, if not long-term, pawn tickets along with baggage tickets, railway passes, and steamship passes, weren't kept past the immediate task/need. There was no reason to keep them... hence their scarcity.

Once a pawn loan was repaid or walked away from, the pawn ticket served no purpose. The pawnbroker had their own ledgers/records for the transactions, so even if turned in by the pawnor upon repayment of the loan, the ticket would be discarded.

There might also be something with the partial James Symington (signed?) document (scan #6)...but my bet was on the pawn tickets

Guess I get to keep my revenue geek status for another week

Well, I get to wear the Idiot Hat today, not for making a mistake on the lot (still in transit), but for missing a third pawn ticket in the group.

I'm working on a pawn ticket census, and going through the images I have accumulated of known examples, I have an image of this item, from R. Rich, 45 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY.




Now compare this to the item at the right in last cropped out image I posted. I bet that once the lot arrives, I'll find there's a canceled 5-cent revenue stamp on the reverse.

Captain Oblivious, that's my name!