RO9b American Fusee Company Proprietary Die Match Stamp

This company began business in the building which they occupied a factory for about ten years, standing at the corner of 21st and 5th st in Erie, PA. The first officers were WR Davenport, President, Winfield A. Galbraith, Treasurer, and E. Gaylord, Secretary and Manager. There were many changes of officers during the life of the company. The officers were all prominent men and all of them with the exception of W. Sheldon, who was secretary manager when the business closed 1884 are now dead. The company was capitalized at $100,000 and employed 25 people. Both fusee and matches were made and they were always packed 100 in a box. Their l cent stamp was never used in multiple. Competition and the reduction in the demand for matches when electric lights came into use made the business unprofitable. The stamp is one of the last of the Philadelphia productions and is a ordinary piece of work far below standard of most of the match engraved by Mr Carpenter’s firm. It has a horizontal rectangle of the standard size containing an oval with United States Inter Revenue One Cent. Within the oval is a panel inscribed American Fusee Company Erie Pa in four lines. Outside either end of the panel within the oval is a numeral “1”. The corners of the design are filled with ornamentation. The first printing was made by Mr. Carpenter on silk paper. This was followed by the National prints on silk, pink and watermarked paper, and the later printings made by the American Bank Note and the Bureau on watermarked paper.

Christopher West