RS54P1 AW Chase & Son Medicine Stamp, Large Die Proof, ex Joyce

Doctor Alvin Wood Chase was a resident of Ann Arbor, Michigan, but his patent medicines were manufactured in Toledo, Ohio. They consisted, in part, of Dr. A.W. Chase’s Kidney-Liver Pills, Dr. W.A. Chase’s Ointment, Dr. A.W. Chase’s Catarrh Cure, and Dr. A. W. Chase’s Syrup of Linseed and Turpentine, The stamps were issued from May of 1877 to October of 1880. Dr. Chase also authored numerous books on homeopathic medicines and practical advice, promoted as “Dr. Chase’s recipes or, Information for everybody: an invaluable collection of about eight hundred practical recipes… with a rational treatment of pleurisy, inflammation of the lungs, and other inflammatory diseases, and also for general female debility and irregularities.”

Morton Dean Joyce (1900–1989), of New York City, was a philatelist who specialized in the collection of United States revenue stamps and became known by his philatelic friends as the “Dean of United States revenue collectors.”

Models, Essays and Proofs of the Morton Dean Joyce Collection
The collection of Morton Dean Joyce contained a magnificent array of the models and large die proofs, including trial color and plate proofs. It seems that Morton Dean Joyce was able to obtain the majority, if not the complete holding, of the Butler and Carpenter Archives including the Order Book which contained the original models. Nearly all of the models that are listed in the Turner book are present in the Morton Dean Joyce Collection. From that point on Joyce researched the large dies according to company from Butler and Carpenter through the National and American Bank Note Companies to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Whenever there was a chance to show trial color proofs or additional information, Joyce did so and the results (were) his collection…The area of models, essays and proofs of the private die proprietary issues was quite possibly Morton Dean Joyce’s most outstanding accomplishment.
Richard Friedberg, Introduction to the Morton Dean Joyce Private Die Proprietary Collection Auction Catalog, Andrew Levitt, September 12-14, 1991