Thomas Chubbuck

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Thomas Chubbuck
BornFebruary 22, 1820
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedJanuary 10, 1888(1888-01-10) (aged 67)
Springfield, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
Known forDesigner of "Brattleboro stamp", one of the first American gummed stamps; engraver of the Seal of Springfield, Massachusetts
Political partyProhibition Party
Spouse
Sylvia Turner Hobart
​
​
(m. 1842)​

Thomas Chubbuck (February 22, 1820 – January 10, 1888)[1] was an American copper and steel engraver and the designer of one of the earliest American gummed stamps, the "Brattleboro stamp", in 1846, as well as the engraver of the modern seal of Springfield, Massachusetts. While living in Boston, apprenticing as an engraver by profession and studying music as an amateur, he met Frederick N. Palmer, then a music teacher but future postmaster of the Brattleboro, Vermont post office.[2] After the two had since-relocated to Brattleboro, Palmer would later ask Chubbuck to design a simple stamp for pre-paid postage in August 1846,[2] which Chubbuck obliged "for the fun of the thing".[3] Though a rarity, the Brattleboro stamp has been falsely described as the first postage stamp in the United States,[4][5] Chubbuck modeled it after its preceding counterparts from Providence and the New York Postmaster's Provisional.[3][6]

By the end of Chubbuck's life examples of such stamps were sold by collectors for as much as $200 (approximately $5761.51 in 2019 USD),[7] and were sold for as much as $16,500 at auction in 2015.[8] Chubbuck was also a prominent figure in Springfield's temperance community, paying for the fees and charter of the Western Massachusetts Sons of Temperance chapter in his final years leading up to his death.[9]

Chubbuck's design for the "Brattleboro stamp", with Frederick N. Palmer's initials

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Chubbock, Thomas (1820-1888)". New Hampshire Historical Society. Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Luff, John Nicholas (1902). "Brattleboro, Vt.". The Postage Stamps of the United States. New York: The Scott Stamp & Coin Co., Ltd. pp. 21–25.
  3. ^ a b "Death of Thomas Chubbuck". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. January 11, 1888. p. 5.
  4. ^ Burnham, Henry (1880). Brattleboro, Windham County, Vermont: Early History, with Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Citizens. Brattleboro, Vt.: D. Leonard. p. 190. The first postage stamps ever printed in this country came from Brattleboro
  5. ^ "Preserve America - Brattleboro, Vermont". Washington, D.C.: Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. October 2005. The first gummed postage stamp was later issued in Brattleboro.
  6. ^ Cushing, Marshall Henry (1893). Story of Our Post Office: The Greatest Government Department in All Its Phases. Boston: A. M. Thayer & Co., Publishers. pp. 428–429. The Brattleboro stamp was engraved by Thomas Chubbuck, who lived in Brattleboro and afterwards in Springfield...It was not the first postage stamp issued or used in this country, as has sometimes been claimed, antedated by a stamp issued by the New York postmaster...
  7. ^ "Minor Mention". Indianapolis Journal. Indianapolis, Ind. January 15, 1888. p. 7. ...he enjoyed telling how he sold an incomplete sheet of these stamps from his specimen box to a 'stamp crank' for $7, and thought the fellow crazy because he insisted on paying for them-- and then his chagrin at hearing of the sale of these seven stamps at $10 apiece and their subsequent rise in value among collectors till $175 or $200 has been paid for a specimen.
  8. ^ "Price of US Stamp Scott 5X1: 1846 5c Brattleboro Postmasters Provisional. Page 1". USPhila.com. Retrieved March 12, 2020. Robert Siegel Auction Galleries, Jun 2015, Sale 1106, Lot 3006)
  9. ^ "The Social Record of a Week". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. January 29, 1888. p. 5. The recent death of Thomas Chubbuck recalls to the minds of many temperance people one of his characteristic acts. He was the representative of Western Massachusetts in the national division of Sons of Temperance of North America...When several years ago the local division was on its last legs, Mr Chubbuck took the responsibility of keeping it alive, and by paying the necessary fees to the state division and meeting other requirements he succeeded in keeping the charter until his death.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

Media related to Thomas Chubbuck at Wikimedia Commons

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