Edison First Day Brings High Price! - New Jersey Postal History ...

ON THE AUCTION SCENE ~ Robert G. RoseFig. 2: 12 Cent Cleveland First Day Cover, cancelled at Caldwell, NJ.According to the auction, this is the only first day cover of this stamp showing a plate block of six.The stamps are tied to a legal size cover with a “Caldwell, N.J. Mar. 20, 1923” duplex cancel,Caldwell being Cleveland’s birthplace. Because of the perforation faults on the two stamps at topedge of the cover, its value was estimated at $500-$700. It sold for a hammer price of $350.The Martin Collection included a wonderful array of hand-painted first day covers by DorothyKnapp, including a colorful 2 cent Edison Electric Light illustrated in Figure 3. 4Fig. 3: 2 Cent Edison Electric Light with Knapp hand painted cachet,cancelled at Menlo Park, NJ.The cover is franked with the 2 cent Edison Electric Light (Scott 654), commemorating the 50 thAnniversary of its invention. The cover is postmarked at Menlo Park, New Jersey, the site of Edison’sfirst laboratory in the State and the location at which the research was done leading to the developmentof the first electric light bulb. Dorothy Knapp hand painted the cachet on the cover several years afterits issue, hence it was described in the sale catalog as an “add-on cachet.” It is the only example of58NJPH Vol. 33/No. 2May 2005 Whole No. 158