N85 Duke Tobacco Postage Stamps Complete Set of (50) Cards

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 6/28/2020

The N85 Duke Tobacco Postage Stamps set is a unique set issued by Duke in the late 1880's. The card stock pictures spaces where stamps of the day have been glued in place. The subjects in the set are related to mail delivery all over the world and the stamps that are affixed are from all over the world from the period during which the cards were issued. This is the only U.S. regular issued set that has postage stamps affixed. American Tobacco Company issued the T404 set of Columbian Exposition and other stamps for use abroad during the turn of the century. The set was issued during the "Tobacco War" years where the U.S. and Britain were building entities to control cigarette manufacturing and distribution.

The first stamps to be used widely by a sovereign nation were used in the United Kingdom in 1840. The Penny Black started the tradition of the UK stamps having the monarch on them with Queen Victoria's likeness. The United States first began widespread official postage stamp usage in 1847 with the issuance of 5 cent Benjamin Franklin and 10 cent George Washington stamps. Other than two subjects, the titles of the cards in the N85 set are generic titles such as "Just in Time" and "Irish Channel Mail". The two non-generic subjects are Sir Rowland Hill and U.S. Postmaster General John Wannamaker. Sir Rowland Hill is largely credited with creating the current postal system of stamps and prepayment of letters being sent. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison appointed Wannamaker as Postmaster General. Wannamaker is often credited with creating the first commemorative stamp.

This set of (50) cards from Duke Tobacco are in mid to lower-mid grade condition. 60% of the cards are in VG to VGEX condition with the other 40% being in Poor to GVG with some level of back damage ranging from a couple of small dots of paper loss to up to 25-30% back loss.

The backs of the cards can be found with the phrase "Foreign Postage Stamp" or "Genuine Foreign Postage Stamp". This complete set of (50) has (30) cards with "Foreign Postage Stamp" and (19) with "Genuine Foreign Postage Stamp" and a single card that has paper loss over that verbiage.