The New York Postmaster's Provisional Stamp: A Historical Treasure

The New York Postmaster's Provisional Stamp is a fascinating piece of postal history. Issued in 1847, it was the first postage stamp ever used in the United States.

The stamp was created due to a shortage of postage stamps from the United States Post Office. The Postmaster of New York, Henry B. Hyde, took matters into his own hands and created a temporary solution.

The stamp was printed on a small piece of paper and featured a unique design. It was a simple, yet effective solution to the problem at hand.

The provisional stamp was only used for a short time, but its significance in postal history cannot be overstated.

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The New York Postmaster's Provisional was introduced on July 14, 1845, and it was the first stamp ever issued by a local U.S. Postmaster. It was available only at the city's post office, and to guarantee authenticity, the Postmaster or his representatives initialed every stamp in red ink.

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The Provisionals were made by Rawdon, Wright & Hatch, and they enjoyed wide use. In all, the company made eighteen shipments of the Provisionals to the New York Post office, with the last shipment on January 7, 1847, bringing the total of stamps delivered to 143,600.

The design and production quality of the Provisionals were so high that when the U.S. Post Office set about issuing national postage stamps, it immediately contracted the same company to print them, bypassing the normal competitive bidding process.

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The New York Postmaster's Provisionals have a rich legacy in the world of philately. They exist in a wide variety of collectible forms, each with its own unique value on the market.

Concerned about counterfeit stamps, the postmaster had his assistants initial each stamp, resulting in several possible variations on the marking. This variation in initialling affects the value of the stamps.

The Scott catalogue values used copies bearing the most common form of the postmaster's initialling at $500. However, this sum rises for examples where the letters are connected or separated by periods.

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Unsigned copies fetch even more, with those bearing the postmaster Robert H. Morris's "RHM" initialling fetching several thousands. The value of these stamps is significantly higher than the common "ACM" examples.

The rarest initials, "MM" or "MMJr", are those of Alonzo's older brother Marcena Monson Jr. and can fetch an inordinately high price. Unused examples also have a premium value, particularly those with gum, which are quite rare.

Different paper types are occasionally found, and examples on these can be quite costly.

The New York Postmaster's Provisional was a result of careful planning and production. Robert H. Morris, the city's Postmaster, contracted Rawdon, Wright & Hatch, a leading security printer, to create the stamps.

The firm produced an engraving plate that printed forty stamp images, not the originally believed fifty or one hundred.

Morris received a bill for $55.01 and the first batch of stamps on June 12, 1845.

A sample stamp was sent to postmasters in Boston, Philadelphia, Albany, and Washington, along with a letter explaining the use of the stamp.

The letter instructed postmasters to mark letters with the stamp as unpaid, but deliver them as paid when they reached Morris's office.

New York's central location in the cluster of major coastal cities meant a single 5¢ stamp was sufficient for most correspondence.

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The New York Provisional was available only at the city's post office. To guarantee authenticity, the Postmaster or one of his representatives initialed every stamp in red ink.

Morris's RHM is present on only a small percentage of the stamps; most of this secretarial drudgery fell to the younger of the two brothers-in-law he had hired as his Assistant Postmasters: 23-year-old Alonzo Castle Monson, whose ACM became ubiquitous.

Rawdon, Wright & Hatch made eighteen shipments of the Provisionals to the New York Post office, the last of which — on January 7, 1847 — brought the total of stamps delivered to 143,600.

The New York Postmaster's Provisional is a rare and historic stamp. It was issued in 1847 and features a vignette of a ship in the harbor.

The stamp was created to help pay for the postage costs of sending mail between New York and other cities. It was only valid for a short time, which is why it's so valuable today.

The New York Postmaster's Provisional is considered a significant milestone in the history of American philately.

A block of three 1845 New York postmaster's provisional stamps has been recovered from the famous Benjamin K. Miller collection.

The stamps were stolen from the collection in 1977 and were part of a larger block of 10 that was broken up to hide its identity.

The recovered block of three is one of three items that have been recovered from the collection since 2006, when 72 stamps were still unaccounted for.

The other two recovered items are an 1869 15¢ Pictorial invert (Scott 119b) and an 1869 30¢ Pictorial invert (121b), which were reported recovered in 2013.

The block of three was found in an old-time collection and was consigned to Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, where it was recognized and identified.

The stamps will be returned to the New York Public Library, which owns the Miller collection.

The recovery of the block of three means that all the stamps from the original block of 10 have now been recovered, although not in their original condition.

The original block of 10 had full selvage, which was trimmed away, and a large cancellation smear was removed from the left side of the block.

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The "FIVE CENTS" stamp is a fascinating piece of philatelic history. These stamps were handsigned by Alonzo Castle Monzo, Robert H. Morris, or M.Monson in red ink, with "ACM" being the most common signature.

The "FIVE CENTS" stamp was part of the New York Post Office's provisional issue in 1845. It featured an inscription on the head of Washington that read "NEW YORK POST OFFICE FIVE CENTS".

Interestingly, there were reprints of these stamps made around 1862, which had slightly different dimensions of 20 1/2 : 28 1/4 mm compared to the original stamps.

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