It is strange that the Yankee, who is generally so quick witted in all matters pertaining to trade and commerce, has been comparatively slow in recognizing the value of the stamped envelope for business purposes. As a matter of fact, the famous Mulready and its numerous caricatures had been used in Great Britain for nearly a dozen years when the Thirty-second Congress, on Aug. 31, 1852, authorized the issue of stamped envelopes in the United States.
The next we hear of the matter is a short line in the Report of the Postmaster-General, dated December 4, 1852, which reads: "Such envelopes as are authorized are now in preparation and will soon be issued." And, in February of the following year, the Scientific American mentions the interesting news that "G. F. Nesbitt has shown to the Postmaster-General an embossed stamp for prepaid envelopes which has been accepted, and the manufacture will at once proceed. Such, however, is the labor and care required for their production, that none will be ready for delivery before the middle of next April."
The much heralded novelty of the Post Office finally appeared July 7, 1853. At least, this date is certified to by the National Intelligencer of the Washington Journal, which, in describing the envelopes just sent out for distribution, states: "they are as yet but of a single size and of the three cent value." It also adds that the addition of the Nesbitt seal is an outrage.
Without entering into further details, it is of general interest to note that, up to 1869, Geo. F. Nesbitt & Co., of New York, continued to furnish the United States Post Office Department with envelopes.
Recalling the fact that Nesbitt originated the dies; that the machinery for embossing was very crude compared with our modern apparatus, collectors must concede that his work deserves great credit.
The question, however, of superlative interest to philatelists is: why has Nesbitt produced such a large number of dies or die varieties? The answer is simple: Pressed hard by the Department to manufacture several millions of envelopes, a gigantic task in the early days of stamp making, and lacking our present means of reproducing working dies from the matrix, he undoubtedly used his best effort; i.e. he probably ordered a number of engravers to reproduce the original die, and, in the hurry of the work, little attention was paid to exactness. This would seem a very plausible explanation, and in the absence of any official data let us permit the above assumption to stand.
Whatever may be the facts in the case, one thing is certain; the varieties exist and have been a source of trouble to many collectors of United States envelopes. With wider knowledge and on better acquaintance, it is certain that in future they will prove a most interesting branch of United States philately.
DIE I.
Short labels with curved ends close to the letters.
10 loops in left side ornament and 9 in right.