[Newspaper Stamps- Table of Contents]
The Used PR1-4 Census
The usual procedure for these stamps was that once inside a Postoffice railroad car, the Postmaster would take a PR1-4 in hand, reach for the glue pot and brush some thick glue on the back of the stamp, attach it to a bundle of newspapers, then reach for a pot of blue or black ink and brush it over the stamp to "kill" it. These stamps were then tossed with their bundles at the appropriate address/stop. Genuine used PR1-4 newspaper stamps are very rare (although fake used stamps are common). Jim Kotanchik in his article: Use of the Newspaper and Periodical Issue of 1865 estimated there were around 20 genuine used PR1-4s in existence. This comment led me to undertake a PR1-4 Used Newspaper Stamp Census. Those of us who concentrate in this area, whom I'll call "Experts", try our best to expertise the "genuines", but we don't always get it right. Nor, are we always in agreement. That said, below I've tried to census the best Expert thinking (subject to change as we get smarter or new material comes to light). If you think you have a used stamp not included in this census, I'd like to hear from you. Please send front and back scans to me. Be aware this page does not "count" as an "expertising" service and I strongly recommend before you spend much on a "genuine" used issue, you have it officially expertised. In a moment of great irony, an auction of Jim Kotanchik's material provided me with PR3-CAN-15, which was at the time the 20th stamp of the census! I have kept the the PR1-CAN-06 copy, certified used with a city postmark, in the survey as "legacy", but I would probably not have certified it today myself. It's missing the blue brush cancel and I would have at least expected a railroad postmark such as you see on some of the used PR2s. Every PR1 I've examined personally is of the "blue" color variety.
