Ayers Cathartic Pills
3 Cent Postage Stamp
1862
"The Currency to Pass"
This encased postage stamp is in what I would call
Very Fine condition. The encasement is in good shape and not
corroded and the mica covering is intact. Intact encased postage
stamps are quite scarce
Encased posage stamps served as a necessary medium
of exchange in the early days of the Civil War. Designed and
patented by John Gault, the encasement consists of a two-part
brass frame. The obverse displayed a current postage stamp visable
under a mica cover. The reverse bore an advertisement for one
of the 31 different merchants, products or services that were
represented. Ayers's Cathartic Pills of Lowell, MA was John Gault's
biggest customer advertising three different patent-medicines
on their encasements.
$525.00
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