Catalogue United States locals

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ATTENTION: many of the local stamps of the United States are reprints and forgeries!

ADAMS & Co's EXPRESS

Adam's & Co's Express (1854, California)

The 25 c black in the above design (man, probably the owner, facing the left in an ellipse) was issued in 1854. Two overprints exist "OVER OUR CALIFORNIA LINES ONLY" (in red) and "RATE 25c PER 1-2OZ". The intials "LR" that can be found on some of the above stamps, stand for 'Louis Reed'.

Rather crude forgery; there is no "." behind the lower "EXPRESS". This might have been produced by Scott. I've also seen this forgery in black on violet (see http://www.cinderellastampsforum.com/classic-cinderellas-jw-scott_topic108.html). The "O" of "CO" is very narrow, there is a bar between the upper left "2" and "5". The last image shows the same forgery, but with shading lines on the face.

Other designs with the man facing to the right (in an octogonal shape or oval shape) were also issued:

Genuine, images obtained from a Siegel auction. A rather crude forgery of the left stamp exists with no ear and no dot behind "EXPRESS".

There is also a newspaper stamp with inscription "ADAMS & COS EXPRESS ONE NEWSPAPER OVER OUR CALIFORNIA ROUTES", in a similar design as the Wells Fargo stamps (see image above).

Furthermore some envelopes are known to exist of this company (besides the 50 c there also seems to exist a 25 c black and a 25 c blue in a different type):

(Cut from an envelope, "ADAMS & CO EXPRESS 50" with "PAID" in shaded letters in the background, image obtained from a Siegel auction)

ADAMS's CITY EXPRESS

Adam's City Express Post (New York), inscription 'CITY EXPRESS POST'

1850 Inscription "CITY EXPRESS POST" and number
  1 c black (ornaments at left)
  2 c black (ornaments at left)
  2 c black on buff ("ADAMS" at left)

A reported 1 c with "ADAMS" at the left (as the 2 c) seems not to exist. The decoration of the ornaments in the 1 c black and 2 c black look identical, but there are small differences.

Reprints exist of the stamps with ornaments at the left (no reprints of the 2 c "ADAMS" exist). They are printed in black or blue and very difficult to distinguish from genuine stamps; the only thing one can say is that the printing plates were worn and will give to some small plating defects in the reprints. I know that George Hussey made reprints (forgeries?) in the 1860's of at least the 2 c blue from the original die (originals are in black).

Forgeries are abundant (the genuine stamps are very rare). There are at least 5 types of forgeries of the 1 c value.

Forgeries:

First forgery of the 1 c

First forgery of the 1 c value, the ornaments at the left are 'hooked' at the top. The shading behind the '1' is too thick. There is no "." behind "EXPRESS". The letters "RE" of this word are joined at the bottom.

Second forgery of the 1 c:

The second forgery of the 1 c has the bottom part of the "C" of "CITY" missing. The "T" of this word has a too large upper right part. Sorry, no image available yet.

Third forgery of the 1 c (made by Taylor):

This forgery has a very strange "O" of "POST", it has no dot behind the word "CENT". Furthermore the letters "XP" and "RE" of "EXPRESS" are joined at the bottom. I've only seen these forgeries in bogus colours: black on lilac, black on yellow and black on green. Sorry, no image available yet.

Fourth forgery of the 1 c:

This forgery is badly printed on very thin paper (sorry, no image available yet). It exists in the colors black and blue.

Fifth forgery of the 1 c:

Some forgeries with bogus colors exist (modern reproductions?): red, black on red, red on yellow, black on green, black on orange, black on red.

Sixth forgery of the 1 c (photograph)

Apparently a photograph of a genuine 1 c (the typical photographical 'dots' can clearly be seen in this scan)

First forgery of the 2 c (without "ADAMS")

This forgery was made by the same forger as the first forgery of the 1 c. There are a "." and three lines above the diamond in the upper part of the two (should be six lines). There are three lines below this diamond (should be six lines in the genuine stamp). This forgery exists in the colors grey, black and blue.

Second forgery of the 2 c (without "ADAMS")

This forgery has a break in the horizontal line above the "PO" of "POST". It is probably made by the same forger as the second forgery of the 1 c. It seems to exist in blue color only. Also note that the ornaments at the left hand side differ from the genuine 2 c stamps.

Third forgery of the 2 c (without "ADAMS")

This forgery is badly printed on very thin paper. It exists in the colors black and blue. It is probably made by the same forger as the fourth forgery of the 1 c. The is an oblique line coming out of the top of the "C" of "CITY", which touches the "I". There are also some breaks in the line above the "O" of "POST".

Fourth forgery of the 2 c (without "ADAMS")

There is a "." behind "EXPRESS" in this forgery. The letters "RE" of "EXPRESS" are joined at the bottom.

Inscription: "ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY 59 BROADWAY, N.Y.", eagle design.
Type I (see image above), I have seen these labels(?) in the colours blue on white, blue on lilac and blue on yellow (all with 'A E Co' embossed in the central eagel, see above). The leaves the eagle is holding are touching the wing.
A Type II in blue on yellow color exists. This type has the eagle slightly different. '59' is placed lower with respect to the leaves the eagle is holding. These leaves do not touch the wing. This is possibly the original envelope(?).

'Ship This Order By ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY' and 'ADAMS EXPRES COMPANY BOSTON MASS.'

Image obtained from a Siegel auction; inscription "THE ADAMS EXPRESS CO 320 CHESTNUT St. PHILA", flying horse in an ellipse, color red, reduced size.

Probably a forgery of this envelope, the head of the horse is looking downwards, reduced size

Other label with inscription "ADAMS EXPRESS COMPANY PHILADELPHIA", flying horse in banner, reduced size.

ALLEN'S CITY DISPATCH

Allen's City Dispatch

These stamps were issued in 1882 and are not very rare, because the remainders were sold to a stamp dealer. Even though these stamps have been forged (at least twice). A full description of these forgeries can be found in 'Focus on Forgeries' by Varro E. Tyler. The scythe handle should extend to the second thin shading line on the left, in one of the forgeries (the most dangerous one) it extends to fourth thin line. In the second forgery this handle extends all the way to the frameline. The genuine stamps are perforated 10, the forgeries 11 1/2, 11 or imperforate. The next stamp has a wrong perforation, so it must be a forgery:

Bogus issue, inscription "ALLENS CITY DISPATCH 25 Clark St" with ornamental border (no person). Apparently the "," behind "ALLENS" and "DISPATCH" and the "t" of "St" have almost disappeared in this particular copy of this forgery.

AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY

American Express Company

"American Express Company. Postage Two Cents. Paid.", New York (1856), 2 c black on green, these labels are extremely rare (only a few have survived). It was not clear for a long time, which stamps were genuine and which were not. According to some sources, Smith's City Express Post was the succesor of the American Express Company. The labels of these two companies do indeed look very similar.

This genuine stamp has two dots in the ornaments above each "A" of "AMERICAN" (also two similar dots in the bottom part). There is a "." behind 'Paid' in the genuine stamps.

Genuine, image obtained from a Siegel auction, reduced size, different type? This looks like a forgery to me...

First forgery (made by Hussey)

There is no "." behind "Paid". Note the position of the lettering with respect to each other. The "P" of "EXPRESS" is aligned vertically with the "P" of "Postage". It was printed in vertical strips of three stamps.

Second forgery

The "P" of "EXPRESS" is printed slightly in front of the "P" of "Postage".The corner ornaments are similar to the side ornaments.

Third forgery

Probably another forgery, with "EXPRESS COMPANY" written very wide, the "d" of "Paid" printed lower and the different frame type. If my information is correct, it might have been made by Scott.

Scott forgeries? These forgeries exists in three slightly different types (note the missing lower right hand border in one of the above types)..

Fourth forgery

Fifth forgery

This forgery type has corner ornaments that stick out from the design. Also there is no "." behind "Paid".

Bogus design

Inscription "AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY UTICA"; I've seen this label in many colors and even with perforation.

UNITED STATES LOCALS, Adams to American Express Company