(St. Louis, M.T.) - A. T. Crane, Post Master at the St. Louis Post Office, \"Post Office Change/Receiv'd for Letters\" 6 Cents Jan. 21, (1819). PCGS Very Fine 20 Apparent. An exceedingly rare, possibly unique, 6 cent St. Louis Post Office scrip from the rarest known Aaron T. Crane-signed series studied extensively by Eric Newman. Post Office notes from three postmasters and on four distinctive series are known. All are represented in the Newman Collection: an impressive offering. Robert Simpson served from 1815-1818, succeeded by Aaron T. Crane who was in office 1818-1819 (according to Eric, he began on September 18, 1818). They were followed by the final territorial period and early statehood period postmaster Elias Rector from 1820-1822. Not much is known of Crane, but when he died, he was referred to as \"a captain in the late war\"). This fascinating 6-cent note is printed on very delicate pink paper without imprint. It varies significantly from the other Crane-signed series (bilingual) with different obligation and side end panel titles. Fancy accordion-style cartouches at the ends have POST OFFICE CHANGE at the left and RECEIV'D FOR LETTERS at the right. A small \"6\" counter is at upper right. The denomination SIX CENTS is across with the obligation \"In current money will be given for this note / at the Post Office, St. Louis.\" Space was left for the well-formed A. T. Crane signature as \"Post Master.\" Significantly, this example is also an important artifact of Missouri postal history with a visible, stacked-style \"ST. LOUIS / JAN. 21\" red stamped postmark at the lower right. This dates the note to 1819 (Crane started in September 1818 and died in office September 26, 1819). A very appealing example from the face. Noted are \"Edge and Internet Tears; Mounting Remnants on Back.\" Very well printed and margined. Paper fissures and voids, generally due to the natural condition of the delicate paper, are seen with more scrutiny, but this example faces up very handsomely. There were no notes from any of the St. Louis postmaster series in the 1981 Vacca sale. St. Louis Post Office notes were not represented in John J. Ford's postmaster notes section in the Ford Part X sale in May 2005, but two late-engraved remainders did appear in Ford Part XXII. Another very important territorial period scrip note, and with one of the earlier Missouri postmark types. Ex: Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society \n\n
From Newman VIII (Heritage Auctions, 11/2017), lot 28341, realized $960. Image and description courtesy of Heritage Auctions, https://ha.com.
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