Like so many collectors of U.S. stamps, I always held the 1893 Columbian issue up as something I would love to obtain a complete set of someday. And, if you know these stamps, you know that this is a tall order once you get into the dollar value Columbians. Over time, my interest has moved towards postal history, which means we can typically take the dollar value Columbians completely off the table if you want examples properly paying a contemporary postage rate.
Happily, this does not hold true with other Columbians - especially when you consider the Otis Clapp package fronts appearing in the market at this point in time.
Above is a package front addressed to Otis Clapp & Son of Providence, Rhode Island. Total postage is 45 cents, including a 30 cent and 6 cent Columbian issue stamp.
Unfortunately, the mute cancels are smudged and unreadable. Since there is no return address on this package piece we cannot ascertain where it was mailed from, nor can we be absolutely certain as to the year it was mailed. However, it is a fairly safe bet that this item was mailed in 1893 simply because the 1cent and 2 cent issues are from the 1890-93 definitive series and a new series of these was issued in 1894. The stamps with most common use (such as these low value stamps) tend to make their appearance on postal history items closer to their dates of issue than higher denominations.
Internal Fourth-Class Mail 1879-1912
Since these are package fronts, we cannot be certain, but it is a good, educated guess, that the contents fit the definition of fourth-class mail. Essentially, anything that was not classified as first, second or third class mail fell into this final class of items that could be sent via the postal service. This included various merchandise, including the types of materials Otis Clapp and Son might ship out or receive.
The rate was very simple - 1 cent for every ounce up to 4 pounds and was effective from May 1, 1879 to December 31, 1912. Thus, the item above would have weighed 45 ounces (2 lbs 13 oz)
A similar, third-class mail rate was 1 cent for every 2 ounces and was applied to all types of printed matter packages, such as books, circulars and newspapers. It too, had a 4 pound limit, which eliminates it as a possibility for the package front shown above. Since that is likely the case, this is almost certainly a fourth-class rate example.
The item shown above is franked only by a 15 cent Columbian stamp and is likely an example of a 15 ounce package mailed at the fourth-class rate. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that this was printed matter carried in a wrapper - and it could have been a third-class rate. We'll never know for certain, and that's just the way things are sometimes!
Unlike the first item, we have no other stamps to help us determine a likely year of mailing and just like the first item, we have no postmarks that will help us. However, a quick history of the J. Ellwood Lee Company gives us an idea that, perhaps, we should not be surprised by a contemporary use of Columbian issue stamps from them.
J. Ellwood Lee Co
The J Ellwood Lee Company of Conshohockem, Pennsylvannia was a well-known supplier of medical supplies, such as rubber gloves, ligatures, rubber tubing, as well as other medical equipment. John Ellwood Lee was born in 1860 and started the business in the attic of his parents home in 1883. By the time the Columbian Exposition came around (the time when the Columbian stampes were issued) in 1893 his company was quite well established. J Ellwood Lee Company won five gold medals against international competition at the fair. The company's involvement in the exposition doesn't make it hard to see why Columbian issue stamps might be on some of their mailings.
This article on the Pennsylvania Heritage site can provide more detail on J Ellwood Lee if you find that interesting.
Oddly enough, Johnson & Johnson (yes, that Johnson & Johnson) purchased J. Ellwood Lee Company in 1905, placing Ellwood Lee onto its board of directors.
Supposing this package held rubber tubing (not a bad guess giving Otis Clapp & Son's activities), 15 ounces could have held a decent bit of tubing. Below is an invoice (that I do not own) that was on an online auction site.
The invoice shows an 1894 purchase of reels of silk - presumably used for stitches. Given Otis Clapp & Son's focus as a pharmaceutical business and the advertising on the front, I think it more likely that this was, in fact, some sort of rubber tubing.
Above is an item that bears 51 cents in postage to carry a package that must have weighed three pounds and three ounces of weight. Unlike the other two, this one was sent from Otis Clapp & Son to a customer in St Louis, Missouri - the Antikamnia Chemical Company.
Once again, we have a 1 cent stamp from the 1890-93 definitive issue that encourages me to believe that this, too, is an 1893-94 mailing.
Antikamnia Chemical Company
The Antikamnia Chemical Company (est 1890) was known for its powder and tablet products to reduce pain. The main ingredient, acetanilid, was sometimes mixed by this company with other active ingredients such as codeine, heroin and quinine. The initial efficacy of acetanilid rested on a single German study of 24 patients, but the company is known for prolific advertising to maintain sales even after running afoul of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. More may be read here: Fiedler, William C. (1979). "Antikamnia: The Story of a Pseudo-ethical Pharmaceutical". Pharmacy in History. 21 (2): 59–72
The bookmark shown above is not in my possession and was found as an offering on Etsy. A person could also find advertising covers for this firm.
Otis Clapp & Son
Otis Clapp first opened his retail homeopathic pharmacy in 1840 and the company Otis Clapp & Son was still operating until it was purchased in 2008. Oddly enough, you can find the company advertising various homeopathic remedies over a long span of time AND you can find it listed as a publishing company.
By all accounts, Otis was a remarkable individual, serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, is listed as a founder for M.I.T., the Boston Female Medical College and an orphanage. His son, was also quite remarkable. Dr. J Wilkinson Clapp was as professor of pharmacy at the Boston University Medical School and put emphasis on research. A decent outline of the history can be found at the Sue Young Histories site. Sadly, the old Otis Clapp company site with the company history has been taken down.
Apparently, Otis Clapp bottles are a fairly popular collectors item. These bottles were found on the Antiques Navigator site.
What I find interesting in all of this is the connections these three pieces of postal history make within the medical and pharmaceuticals fields. Clearly, Otis Clapp & Company was populated by exceptional people and the early stories surrounding that company are generally positive. Similarly, J Ellwood Lee was seen in a good light - even by employees well after he could have been excused from personal interaction with the workers. In both cases, the primary players saw significant success.
On the other hand, the founders of the Antikamnia Chemical Company could be said to have found financial success, but there is some question about the ethics and quality that went along with it all. It could be interesting to uncover how Clapp and Lee might have felt about Antikamnia.
Perhaps we should get back to the postal history stuff now?
Why the Ugly Cancellations?
The postal markings available to us on these parcel fronts are far from helpful to the postal historian. However, they did the job they were intended to do - deface the postage stamps so they could not be re-used.
Most third and fourth class mail items were struck with cancellation devices that did not include a date and sometimes did not even indicate a city/town of origin. In the fine book by Beecher and Wawrukiewicz (US Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-1999, 2nd ed.), they suggest that these 'mute' cancels purposefully eliminated the date to not call attention to the speed of delivery of this type of mail. We need to remember that all sorts of things were being mailed in fourth-class. Sometimes an item would simply have a mailing tag tied to it. With all of the different sizes and shapes, shipping could provide some interesting puzzle for the postal service. It is no wonder that it might take longer and it is understandable that they did not want to give customers any additional ammunition to complain about the speed of delivery.
As far as the quality of the strikes are concerned, we can also surmise that the package surface was rarely as stable as a flat letter on a solid surface would be. It does not take much of an experience with a stamping device to figure out exactly how hard it is to get a clean strike on an unevenly supported surface.
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