Super interesting!
Very neat information.
I am new "covers" and really enjoy them.
The history is quite intriguing.
I wish I had this guys "allowance" at the age of 18!
Johnny
Johnny, the cool part is that it's easy to Google people today. I see a lot of this same printed cover, with different stamps and postmarks on a regular basis. No doubt he kept all the mail he received as covers. I saw one recently with a McKeel's return address on it.
If you keep your eyes open you can find correspondence from early well known stamp collectors.
Here's another Deats cover, this one with a pair of Scott 314, the imperforate version of Scott 300.. yea, my beloved Franklins!
I knew I had another Deats cover but couldn't remember where... imagine my surprise when I gave my Ben Franklin talk at the Hamilton, NJ stamp club last week and this one popped up in my Powerpoint presentation! So I ad libbed the history of Mr Deats as a colorful character in stamp history!
Deats and Sterling purchased seven railroad *boxcars* full of surplus taxpaid revenues and special tax stamps, purged by the U.S. Treasury. Revenue collectors owe a huge debt to both of them for cataloging this material.
Here's a photo of Deats from 1892.
No doubt anyone who regularly trolls the historic cover section has come across this printed cover. I have a few in my NJ collection. The other day I got curious as to who H.E. Deats was, so I Googled the name, not anticipating finding anything. Instead I found a lot of history.
First I found that Hiram Edwin Deats was the editor / publisher of a monthly Journal called "The Jerseyman". It was about New Jersey local history and genealogy, particularly Hunterdon County. He also operated a large farm. He lived 1870-1963.
He began collecting philatelic literature and stamps in 1886 and then joined the American Philatelic Association during the same year it was founded. He inherited his father’s estate in 1889. He was still attending the Peddie School, Hightstown, New Jersey when he inherited his father's estate, and graduated in 1890. The young Deats wasted no time spending large sums on coins and stamps and philatelic literature. The New York Times in 1890 says Deats is only 18 years old and his legal guardians allowed him to spend $7,000.00 on his stamp collection. He specialized in the collecting of United States revenue stamps, and his collection, which in 1888 included the revenue collection of Edward Boker Sterling, was unsurpassed. George L. Toppan and Alexander Holland of the Boston Philatelic Society used this collection as a basis for writing in collaboration with Deats, in 1899, An Historical Reference List of the Revenue Stamps of the United States Including the Private Die Proprietary Stamps, which was re-printed in 1979 as The Boston Revenue Book. The Deats Collection of Proofs and Essays of United States Documentary and Proprietary Revenue Stamps was sold in 1912 by New England Stamp Company.
Pretty interesting character!
re: H.E. DEATS Covers
Super interesting!
Very neat information.
I am new "covers" and really enjoy them.
The history is quite intriguing.
I wish I had this guys "allowance" at the age of 18!
Johnny
re: H.E. DEATS Covers
Johnny, the cool part is that it's easy to Google people today. I see a lot of this same printed cover, with different stamps and postmarks on a regular basis. No doubt he kept all the mail he received as covers. I saw one recently with a McKeel's return address on it.
If you keep your eyes open you can find correspondence from early well known stamp collectors.
re: H.E. DEATS Covers
Here's another Deats cover, this one with a pair of Scott 314, the imperforate version of Scott 300.. yea, my beloved Franklins!
I knew I had another Deats cover but couldn't remember where... imagine my surprise when I gave my Ben Franklin talk at the Hamilton, NJ stamp club last week and this one popped up in my Powerpoint presentation! So I ad libbed the history of Mr Deats as a colorful character in stamp history!
re: H.E. DEATS Covers
Deats and Sterling purchased seven railroad *boxcars* full of surplus taxpaid revenues and special tax stamps, purged by the U.S. Treasury. Revenue collectors owe a huge debt to both of them for cataloging this material.
Here's a photo of Deats from 1892.