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

I thought it was the other side of one that was shown.

You can see the 3 tickets together in the group shots.

Boas Levy and R. Rich were both NYC pawnbrokers, the former at 615 Hudson St and the latter at 45 Eight Avenue. I don't know enough about the layout of NYC at that time to know whether the two were in close proximity.

Literally a block away. Nice area of the north west corner of Greenwich Village. Used to be a great blues club right there about 30 years ago.

For Pete's Snakes, even PAWNBROKERS had to use revenues?????

Lot arrived about a half hour ago, exactly as expected. The 3 pawn tickets and a few other documents of interest:

1. Several holograhic checks

2. An 1868 promissory note taxed 5 cents, with a protest on reverse with 25-cent revenue affixed.

3. An 1898 sight draft featuring a cancel from the "Columbia Folding Bed Company".

4. Two 1901 receipts with battleship documentaries affixed, from the "Travis Lodge" in Sherman, Texas, a constituent lodge of the Grand Lodge of Texas (Freemasons).

5. A beat up 1866 small billhead from "W.G. Metzerott & Co." in Washington D.C., dealer for Steinway & Sons for the purchase of a piano, with tied 2-cent bank check, and on the reverse is a handritten five-year warranty policy for said piano, taxed 5 cents, presumably as an agreement. Really neat!

I live fairly close to the old Steinway factory and mansion at the end of Steinway street.

I've just published an online census of the (currently) 19 known Civil War-era stamped pawn tickets:

https://revenue-collector.com/pawn/

The pawn ticket with an RN is great item - have you written about it before? I couldn't find anything with a quick search.

Just briefly in 2024's Chicagopex recap. I *believe* there is at least one other example known of the same document, either in the collection of Bob Hohertz or the late Hermann Ivester, but I could be misattributing ownership.

Given the expense involved, Pawner's Bank must have done quite the business.

That RN is far and away the most expensive of my pawn ticket acquisitions, but as was so often said on American Pickers, "the time to buy it is when you see it", or as Denny Peoples would say: "find another one!"

The most interesting and unusual one IMO is the Isaac Nathans ticket with the Star of David handstamp cancel. While there are masonic star cancels on 1851 postage stamps, this is the earliest example of the Jewish Star of David in a cancel on U.S. material that I am aware of (1864). If there are earlier examples on other types of philatelic/fiscal material, I would love to know about them.

Love to know who the initials were, since they don't match the name of the pawnbroker.

Since the last letter is the same, I assume a relative, either employee or partner in the business.