The Harry F. Allen Collection of Black Jacks: A Study of the Stamp and Its Use

Maryette B. Lane

Published by American Philatelic Society, 1969

About this Item

No jacket as issued. Red cloth boards have minor wear, gold gilt titles re oxidized, endpages are lightly age-toned/foxed, 148 glossy pages, illustrated with black and white photos. The name Black Jack was given to the United States 2-cent stamp of 1863 by its first serious student H.P. Antherton. It was, he said, a convenient way to distinguish the black stamp from its "coloured cousins", the 2-cent brown, 2-cent vermillion, 4-cent green & 4-cent carmine Jackson stamps of the later Bank Note period. At an exhibition in 1952, Allen saw a specializedcollection of Black Jacks and thereafter collected no other stamp. He was unalterablyopposed to buying intact collections and insisted on building his Black Jack collection stampby stamp and cover by cover. He was a member of The American Philatelic Society,Society of Philatelic Americans and Collectors Club, New York.In the Spring of 1953, he asked the author to mount his Black Jacks in a mannersuitable for exhibition, and from that time on, she served as curator of the collection. Incompetition, the collection received the Grand Award at FLOREX in 1953, and a GoldAward and the STEPHEN G. RICH TROPHY for "Best in U.S. " at CHISPA in 1954· In1956, it was awarded a Bronze Medal at FIPEX; in 1 958, a Gold Award and the A.P.S.Trophy at SOJEX. In 1963, by special invitation, it was exhibited again at FLOREXand again it took the Grand Award and the S.P.A. Research Medal. The collection wasshown for the last time at NAPEX, in 1 964, where it received a Gold Award and theS.P.A. President's Trophy.

Seller Inventory # 241207011

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Harry F. Allen Collection of Black Jacks: A Study of the Stamp and Its Use
• Publisher: American Philatelic Society
• Publication Date: 1969
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 16 ounces
• Seller catalogs:
  • Antique & Collectibles