A New RN-X7 Variety

by Coleman Leifer

The Scott Specialized Catalog shows RN-X7d as the two-cent Spanish American War revenue stamp that is printed vertically. The Castenholz Field Guides to Revenue Stamped Paper list three users of this variety. A fourth user has been found since the guides were published.

The users were:
Washington, DC; Central National Bank; R.P. Clarke & Co.
Portland, ME; Union Mutual Life Insurance Company
Rochester, NY; Cutler Manufacturing Company (unused)
Troy, NY; Union National Bank, Troy, New York; Malleable Iron Works

The imprint in each instance is on the left side of the document, reading up.

A fifth user has now surfaced. The imprint on this check, however, is on the right side and reads down, creating a new variety. The check is from the Exchange Bank of Albany, Georgia, and was issued by the Albany and Northern Railroad. It was printed by the Stephens Lithographic and Engraving Company of Saint Louis and has a vignette, in yellow, of the Landing of Columbus. This is the same vignette that appears on the 2ยข Columbian stamp (Scott 231.)

The Albany and Northern Railroad was created by a reorganization of the Albany, Florida and Northern Railway in 1895. It was reorganized again in 1910 as the Georgia, Southwestern and Gulf. It was reorganized still again in 1942 under the previous Albany and Northern name. The railroad ran from Albany to Cordele, Georgia, a distance of 35 miles.

This article appeared in the April – June 1999 issue of The Check Collector.