Background
The earliest reference to an organized effort to study and catalog
United States (US) postal markings that I have been able to find is 1912. In that year, the International Postmark
Society (IPS) was formed. A. H.
Pike edited the house organ until his death. The society was primarily focused on
ordinary modern postmarks, although some members collected earlier and rare
postmarks.
The Stampless Cover Unit (SCU) of the American Philatelic
Society (APS) began publishing a house organ in August 1927. This, and subsequent bulletins, were
edited by Frederick S. Eaton under the title Stampless Covers.
In October 1930, Harold Palmer Piser, Chairman of the
Organization Committee, began as editor and publisher of Postal Markings, the official organ of the newly created International
Postal Marking Society (IPMS). The
IPMS apparently was a reorganization of the IPS after the death of Pike.
In April 1931, the SCU merged with the IPMS, which was soon
to become the official house organ for the Precancel Stamp Society (PSS). These events helped Postal Markings claim that it reached “more collectors of
covers, cancellations and postmarks than any other periodical” in 1932.
Under the direction of Piser, 22 issues were published with
articles by Delf Norona, Eaton, Harry M. Konwiser, L. K. Robbins, Stephen G.
Rich and others. The publication had grown in stature and
was read by enough collectors such that Scott Stamp & Coin Co. took out a front
cover advertisement in whole number 19 in June, 1932. This was the first and only front cover
advertisement ever accepted by the publication. It stated:
“The work of listing the postal markings of the world
in [sic] an ambitious program. The
accomplishment of this project will fill a long felt and much needed
demand. It can only be achieved by
the combined efforts of everyone who has this interest at heart. We wish the International Postal Marking
Society every success in their undertaking. In the meantime we are ready to
help. We offer either to BUY or
SELL STAMPS OR COVERS BEARING POSTAL MARKINGS OF INTEREST OR VALUE.”
A New Editor
Sometime between whole number 22 (November-December 1932)
and whole number 23 (May 29, 1933), “demands on Mr. Piser’s time
[made] it impossible for him to continue his activity in
publishing.” The new
publisher was Rich and the new editor was Konwiser. The publication was now to focus on 19th
century markings mainly from the
By about this same time, several more events had occurred
which confirmed the rapidly increasing interest in covers and postal markings. August Dietz had published his
Confederate monograph (The Postal Service of the Confederate States of
America). The PSS had published
the Official Precancel Stamp Catalog. Dietz had also begun publishing Stamp and Cover Collecting to succeed The New Southern Philatelist, which he
had published for nine years. Norona
had edited and published the first volume of the Cyclopedia of United States
Postmarks & Postal History.
And, Stamps Magazine added a
weekly column titled “Postal Markings,” which was to be written for
over twenty years by Konwiser.
The Konwiser Catalogs
The catalog Konwiser advertised in Postal Markings was copyrighted in 1935 and published by Milton R.
Miller as the 1936 Edition of the United States Stampless Cover Catalogue
(USSCC). David G. Phillips
acknowledged that “it is from this work that the present ‘American
Stampless Cover Catalog’ has grown.” (Preface to Volume III of the American
Stampless Cover Catalog published in 1993.)
Editor Konwiser began the Introduction by stating
“This is the initial effort to produce a catalogue for the collectors of
Stampless Covers and it was not the intent or desire of the compilers to allot
a line to each and every post office, for each year, but rather to present a
cross-section of covers from many States seeking to emphasize the known
varieties to develop diversification for collectors.”
The catalog was 200 pages long and listed data by state. Some states had a compiler, while
approximately 175 collaborators were shown in the introduction. There were only a few illustrations,
mostly comprised of full pages showing approximately fifty markings per page from
many different states.
Unfortunately, there was no index to the illustrations, so they were
very difficult to use. Catalog
prices began at $0.10, with most items priced below $1.00. The highest priced items were from
The next two editions were published by Rich as the 1938 and
1942-43 editions. Konwiser used far
fewer illustrations in these catalogs, but this time the illustration was shown
with the catalog listing. The two-column
format began in the 1938 edition.
This allowed it to contain
almost 50 fewer pages than the 1936 edition, even though several pages of
advertising were included in 1938 and the listings were greatly enhanced. The Third Edition (1942-43) grew in size
as inland ship markings, American waterways markings, railroad markings and
Confederate markings were added. The
listing of collaborators also returned.
The list now contained almost 300 names.
The Fourth Edition (1947) was published by a third company, the
Severn-Wylie-Jewett Company. This edition continued to grow in size and added
new sections on independent mail route markings and free mail. The collaborator list was moved to a
more prominent position in this catalog (and subsequent catalogs), directly
following the contents page.
The last edition edited by Konwiser was the 1952 (Fifth)
Edition. Even though a new section
(
The Sampson Catalogs
A new editor also brought a new name to the catalog, the American
Stampless Cover Catalog (ASCC) edited by E. N. Sampson, published in 1965. It was the combination of three former
separate catalogs: the USSCC
(above), the American Colonial Postmark Catalog and the United States
Territorial Postmark Catalog – Stampless Cover Section. The last two were edited and published
by Sampson. The combination of
these three catalogs closely approximates the scope of the current editions of
the ASCC.
The format of the catalog was changed to include three
sections, which was maintained for both editions Sampson edited. Section 1 contained General Information. Section 2 included the “listing of
town postmarks by states (including colonies, territories and
possessions).” The third
section was expanded to contain “other types of markings on US stampless
covers.”
For the first time, I believe, the catalog became
commercially available in a hard bound edition, with a dust jacket. Sampson also initiated the practice of
placing postmark and rating mark illustrations on the end papers.
Catalog prices were generally $1.00 and up, while a very few
covers were priced at $0.50.
Sampson commented on pricing in the introduction. “Values of stampless covers change
constantly due to factors such as available supply, varying degrees of
collector interest in certain types and general inflationary trends. The individual prices in this Catalog
are subject to change but we believe they will be a good guide to collectors
for many years, particularly in relation to each other. Higher priced covers will always be hard
to obtain, except for an occasional find of many covers bearing a postmark
hitherto considered scarce.”
That statement is as true today as it was in 1965.
W. W. Wylie, the editor of the Western Stamp Collector, wrote a review of the catalog titled
“The Postal Historian’s Vade Mecum” (literally translated as “to
go with me,” implying constant companion). It was printed on the dust jacket and
began “To the student of this country’s postal history the American
Stampless Cover Catalog is a veritable bible – a reference book he will
use constantly, finding in its pages a wealth of information as well as
inspiration.”
Sampson produced his second catalog six years later in 1971. The format and content were identical to
his first edition with the addition of a “Way Mail Markings” section
in Section 3. As before, the list
of collaborators was short and most sections were shown as being edited by one
or more persons.
The Phillips Years
David G. Phillips purchased the catalog in late 1976 from Stamp Collector, formerly Van Dahl
Publications, Inc. Phillips wasted
no time as he published his first of six catalogs a little more than a year
later in 1978. The Third Edition of
the ASCC was edited by Benjamin Wishnietsky with Hubert C. Skinner as co-editor
and Gordon L. Hudson as editorial assistant. The catalog was dedicated to Sampson,
who was also listed as editor emeritus.
Although similar in format to earlier editions, this edition
included several innovations, some very subtle, most of which have been carried
forward in later editions. Many
more illustrations were added, with some states doubling in quantity. There appears to have been a significant
increase in cooperation, as the list of contributors for this edition alone
contained around 125 individual names and societies. As with the previous edition, most
states listed one or more individuals as editors.
I believe this was the first time that a Limited Deluxe
Edition was offered. It consisted
of 300 numbered copies in a special binding with a matching slip cover. Neither version contained a dust jacket. The regular version used postmark and
rating mark illustrations on the front and rear covers.
In 1980, Phillips published the first edition of the Confederate
States of America Stampless Cover Catalog (CSASCC). It was edited by Wishnietsky with
Phillips was both editor in chief and publisher for the
remaining four volumes he would publish.
The biggest change in the history of the catalog took place when he
became editor in chief as he split it into three volumes. Volume I contained all of the state
markings, formerly section 2. The
second volume included all of section 3 except for CSA markings and volume III
contained CSA and colonial markings, as well as additional material.
The first of the split catalogs to be published was Volume
I, the Fourth Edition, published in 1985.
Joining Phillips on the editorial staff were senior editor James S.
Leonardo, associate editors Hubert C. Skinner and Wishnietsky, assistant editors
Kenneth L. Gilman and Kristi Johnson and editorial coordinator Thressa G.
Terry. This edition listed general
contributors and those providing assistance (almost 100 individuals and
societies) as well as state editorial contributors and assistants. Improvements continued with this
edition, most notably the listing of manuscript town postmarks by date, with many
priced. This edition had many more
illustrations and contained a large number of catalog additions. It was almost 400 pages in length. Prices ranged from around $2 to
thousands for the rarer and most desirable covers.
Just two years later in 1987, Phillips published Volume
II. It was also considered the
Fourth Edition and it is the current edition, as are the next two volumes. Leonardo and Skinner served as senior
editors; Gilman and Wishnietsky were associate editors; and, Helen S. Krasne
and Terry were editorial coordinators.
This volume was a significant update of the last section 3 as published
in 1978 and it contained several new sections. It grew from less than fifty pages to almost
300 pages. In the preface, Phillips
attributed the success to “the splendid response received to our calls
for help from the editors and contributors named elsewhere in these
pages.”
Volume III of the ASCC was also published as the Fourth
Edition in 1993. The senior editors
were Leonardo, Wishnietsky and Skinner with Gilman as assistant editor. However, the catalog contained a lengthy
section on stampless telegraph covers written by Robert Dalton Harris. The Confederate section was shown as the
second edition of the CSASCC and listed Wishnietsky as the editor with Gilman
as the assistant editor. The
remaining sections (Colonial Period Markings, The Mexican War and Auxiliary
Markings) did not list additional editors.
Volume III contained 336 pages, making the three volumes over one thousand
pages. The catalog has come a long
way from its humble beginnings in 1936.
The last edition published was an update to Volume I as the
Fifth Edition in 1997. The senior
editors were Gilman and Leonardo with Skinner as the associate editor. This edition contained several major
enhancements “and almost 100 pages of new listings,” as Phillips
wrote in the preface.
Summary
The ASCC is certainly a unique catalog in many
respects. Although it only attempts
to catalog postal markings used on US stampless covers and not worldwide covers
as first anticipated by the IPMS, it is still a very ambitious project. In nearly seventy years and thirteen
volumes, hundreds of volunteers have donated their time and effort for the sole
purpose of advancing knowledge.
Phillips said it best in the acknowledgements in his final
publication: “Over the years,
no other American postal history work has received a higher degree of
cooperation from individual collectors, dealers and societies, than this one
has. The Editors offer their
gratitude and appreciation to all who have contributed information, listings,
illustrations, pricing advice, constructive criticism and editorial assistance
– it is only as a result of this freely shared knowledge, pooled for the
benefit of all, that a catalog of this sort can be complied.”
The US Philatelic Classics Society recently purchased all
rights to the ASCC. This purchase
was made possible by the generous donations of many members. It will require the help and support of
many more members and non-members to carry on the catalog’s fine
tradition.