The Die Varieties of the Nesbitt Series of United States Envelopes

History > Americas > Transportation > General

Description

by Victor M. Berthold

INTRODUCTION

"Variety is the spice of Life". This aphorism, if applied to collectors of the dies of the early United States envelopes, changes with kaleidoscopic rapidity into: "Varieties are the bane of collectors". The truth of this statement is borne out by the fact that, though the die varieties of the Nesbitt issues are one of the most interesting phases of American philately, the amount of our knowledge concerning them is surprisingly small.

If we recall that many of these dies have been in existence for half a century, embracing all issues prior to 1870, and thus, in comparison with modern issues, are hoary with age, that they have been collected for decades by ardent lovers of United States envelopes, our surprise is heightened.

The honor of the first attempt at describing the various Nesbitt die varieties and making this knowledge public property belongs to an English philatelist of rare ability, the late Gilbert Harrison. While this confers great credit upon the latter, it is an humiliation to American philatelists that this page of our own history was left to be written by an English student. Even so, this work did not appear until fully forty years after the Nesbitt dies were first issued.

It is, likewise, true that Messrs. Tiffany, Bogert and Rechert in their "Historical Notes" undertook to rescue the Nesbitt die varieties from an ignominious oblivion, and for this they are also entitled to praise, but up to the most recent time, the great body of collectors did not possess a guide-book, a "Philatelic Baedeker," which would enable the timorous traveler to proceed into the unknown country with a feeling of perfect safety.

Naturally the question arises: What is the reason for this state of affairs? Why have the Nesbitt die varieties been relegated to an entirely unmerited obscurity?

Unless I am greatly mistaken the answer is that the large majority of collectors believed the subject to be fraught with difficulties. Add to this both the lack of a catalogue and of any systematic exposition of the early die varieties, and it is easy to comprehend why the bugbear has continued to the detriment of United States philately.

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