The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

1 3 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o h i s t o ry a n d t e c h n o l o g yit was best to purchase Grieg’s City Despatch Post, a localpost in New York City which had been operating successfullysince February 1, 1842. The purchase also eliminatedthe competition from that particular local post. August 15,1842, was the last day of the operation of Grieg’s City DespatchPost, and on August 16, 1842, the service continuedits operation but now was an official service of the postoffice with the name changed to “United States City DespatchPost.” There was not time to print new stamps so theCity Despatch Post adhesives created by Grieg (40L1) werenow used as official carrier stamps (6LB1). These are twoScott Specialized Catalogue listings. One is a local stampwith an “L” prefix, and the other is a carrier stamp withan “LB” prefix. The 40L1 and 6LB1 are the same face picturestamps. The handstamps used were different and onlyused stamps can be differentiated. All unused stamps fallinto the local stamp, 40L1, category. The stamps were soldindividually at three cents each or $2.50 per hundred. Thiswas the same rate Grieg had charged. The outer limit of operationsof the U.S. City Despatch Post was Twenty- SecondStreet. The areas from Fourth Street to Twenty- SecondFigure 1. The handstamps that identify covers used while Griegoperated his local post (left) and those of the U.S. City DespatchPost, the first government carrier service (right). From the 2010 ScottSpecialized Catalogue.Street was known at that time as Uptown New York City.Central New York City was from Fourth Street south toFulton Street and Downtown New York City was south ofFulton Street to the lower tip of Manhattan.The Greig’s City Despatch Local Post adhesive was tobecome America’s first and most versatile stamp producingplate. It was now also the first plate used to make carrierstamps in the United States. The plate was made byRawdon, Wright and Hatch. When Greig was operatingas a local post he used a “FREE” handstamp in a fancyoctagon (Figure 1). The “FREE” actually meant that thestamp was purchased and therefore the letter was prepaid.When Greig’s became the U.S. City Despatch Post, the cancelused was a “U.S.” in a fancy octagon shown in Figure1. The U.S. City Despatch stamps were prepurchased andthe “U.S.” octagon cancel was to prevent their reuse. Thiswas an innovative action by the carrier department basedon the same action used by Greig cancelling his local postadhesives. The carrier service also had a circular datestampwhich reads “U.S. City Despatch Post,” with the “U.S.”at the bottom. When Greig operated as a local post hisdatestamp read “City Despatch Post” with “N. Y.” at thebottom. These handstamps can be seen in Figure 2.Both the Greig’s Local Post datestamp and the U.S.City Despatch Post handstamp were double lined circleswith the middle reserved for a date and a clock time. Sincethis was the first government handstamp, the datestampwas an innovative action by the carrier department, as wasthe clock time, and it was based on the same action and designused by Greig when he ran his local post. Since Greigwas running the U.S. City Despatch, he made good useof the handstamp design he developed earlier. Sometimein 1843 the U.S. City Despatch replaced its double linedcircular datestamp with a single line datestamp which stillincluded the clock time. See Figure 2.Figure 2. The datestamps that identify covers used while Grieg operated his local post (left) and those of the U.S. City Despatch Post (right).From the American Stampless Cover Catalogue, Volume II, 1987.