UNITED STATES SEMI-OFFICIAL LOCAL ISSUES for CHARLESTON

Return To Catalogue - United States locals overview - USA Semi-official local stamps and carriers - New York issues - United States

Note: on my website many of the pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's;
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Semi official local issues exist in the following towns: Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Louisville, New York and Philadelphia. WARNING: many of these stamps exist forged, some of the stamps shown here could be forgeries too! If I have note indicated that the stamp is genuine, then I'm not quite sure.

Charleston (West Virginia)

Many carrier stamps seems to have been issued in Charleston.

1849 Inscription 'HONOUR'S CITY EXPRESS POST' or 'HONOUR'S CITY POST PAID' in an ellipse

(Genuine on letter, reduced sizes, images obtained from a Siegel auction)

  2 c black on lilac (Express)
  2 c black on yellow (Express)
  (?) 2 c black on lilac (Paid)

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
2 c black on red (Express)	RRR	RRR
2 c black on yellow	RRR	RRR
2 c black on lilac (Paid)	RRR	RRR

Forgeries exist, I have no further information.

1854 Inscription 'CITY POST' in a square

(Genuine on envelope, reduced size, image obtained from a Siegel auction)

  2 c black on blue

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
2 c	RRR	RRR

1849 Inscription "HONOUR'S CITY POST"

(Genuine, reduced size, "Ceuts" misprint with "n" inverted, only one stamp known with this misprint, image obtained from a Siegel auction)

2 c black on yellow, image obtained from a Cherrystone auction

  2 c black
  2 c black on blue
  2 c black on yellow

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
All stamps	RRR	RRR

Scott forgery; there are 6 circles at the sides insted of 5! Another forger seems to have imitated this forgery with a small or broken "T" in "CITY" (in many different colors).

1851 Inscription "Paid, HONOUR'S CITY POST"

Genuine stamps

(Genuine, reduced size, image obtained from a Siegel auction)

  2 c black on blue
  2 c black on lilac

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
2 c black on blue	RRR	RRR
2 c black on lilac	RRR	RRR

Forgery, the '2' is below the 'CI' instead of 'IT' of the word 'CITY'. This forgery was made by Scott.

Taylor forgeries

Other dubious stamps.

1851 Inscription "HONOUR'S Penny Post PAID"

(Image obtained from a Siegel auction)

  2 c black
  2 c black on blue

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
2 c black	RRR	RRR
2 c black on blue	RRR	RRR

A Scott forgery of this stamp; note the low 't' of 'Post' and the dot behind this word. The 'P' of 'PAID' is below the first 'n' of 'Penny'.

1851 Inscription "HONOUR'S City Post PAID"

(Genuine, reduced size, image obtained from a Siegel auction)

Images obtained from a Siegel auction and a Bennett auction.

  2 c black on blue

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
2 c	RRR	RRR	I've seen this stamp with ',' behind 'PAID', also with no '.' behind 'Post' (see images above).

First forgery (Scott)

The next stamp is a forgery, the size of the word 'PAID' does not correspond to the image above. But it does correspond to the image in Scott's Specialized Catalogue however:

A Scott forgery of this stamp. The apostrophe is placed too low.

Second forgery (Taylor)

A Taylor forgery in yellow and black on green, there is no "." behind "Post" and the "S" of "HONOUR'S" is very weird. I've also seen this forgery in the color black on yellow.

Third forgery

Third forgery on white and blue paper, reduced sizes

I've seen another forgery, more closely resembling the genuine design (with the "I" of "PAID" more to the right of the "P" of "POST" than in the genuine stamps).

1851 Inscription "KINGMAN'S City Post Paid"

(Genuine, reduced size, image obtained from a Siegel auction)

(Genuine, left image obtained from a Siegel auction and right image from a Cherrystone auction)

  2 c black
  2 c black on green
  2 c black on blue

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
All values	RRR	RRR

First forgery

Probably a forgery
Forgeries; the 'K' of 'KINGMAN' is placed too far to the left in my opinion

Second forgery

Sorry for the small size of the image

This forgery was made by Scott. In my opinion, the 'K' of kingman is also placed too far to the left (though not as far as in the first forgery). In the genuine stamps I have seen, the 'K' is placed slightly to the right of the second pearl on top. When compared to the previous forgery, the '2' is further away from 'cts'. Some of the moon-shaped ornaments in the outer circles are also pointing in different directions, compared to the previous forgery.

Third forgery

Third forgery, two bogus colors.

This forgery appears is printed quite badly and in many bogus colors: blue, black, red on green, red, red on red, red on yellow, red on blue, orange, orange on blue, black on green, green, brown etc. I've been told it was made by Benson(?).

'Kingman's city post', image of a train, bogus issue (not to be confused with a carrier issue with text only), another image can be found on http://alphabetilately.com/US-trains-00.html. This was apparently a bogus issue made by Taylor. I've seen it in the colors violet, blue, red on yellow, brown, black on blue and black on red. Note the resemblance to the stamps of the Gunn's Despatch:

It looks like the Kingman design was made out of the Gunn's stamps, part of the ribbon can still be seen on the right hand side of the Kingman stamps.

1851 Inscription "Paid, KINGMAN'S CITY POST"

(Reduced size, genuine, image obtained from a Siegel auction)

  2 c black on blue

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
2 c	RRR	RRR

1858 Inscription "MARTIN'S City Post. Paid"

(Genuine, images obtained from a Siegel auction)

  2 c black on blue
  2 c black

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
2 c black on blue	RRR	RRR
2 c black	RRR	RRR

Probably a forgery or reprint.

1860 Inscription "BECKMAN'S City Post"

  2 c black on blue

There is only one stamp of the Beckman's City Post known (on envelope), I do not posess a picture of this stamp.

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
2 c	-	RRR

1858 Inscription "Steinmeyer's City Post."

(Genuine, images obtained from a Siegel auction)

Two sheets of 10 stamps each, images obtained from a Siegel auction

(Image obtained from a Schuyler Rumsey auction)

Not sure if these are genuine

  2 c black on blue
  2 c black on blue (different frame, pearl border)
  2 c black on lilac
  2 c black on yellow

Value of the stamps
vc = very common c = common * = not so common ** = uncommon		*** = very uncommon R = rare RR = very rare RRR = extremely rare
Value	Unused	Used	Remarks
All values	RRR	RRR

The next stamps could all be forgeries or reprints:

Could all be forgeries! There are two extra ornaments at the top and bottom.

Moens forgeries? Note that there are two types, one with the left ornament too far to the right (with respect to the upper and lower left ornaments)

Taylor forgeries with a fancy flower border. They also exist in black on yellow and black on green.

I believe this is a Scott forgery, it has the word 'City' too far to the right and the 'C' of this word is too narrow. I've also seen this particular forgery in black on blue.