U.S. First Day Cover Cachet Display Catalog:
Cachetmaker: Herbert Meisels (Add-ons and Fakes)

(last updated .10-28-2023)

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      WARNING: Except for covers I own, mistakes I bought for my collection, I will not be buying or adding any other Herbert Meisels covers to this page. I just received feedback from a dealer who does not sell Meisels, Douglas S. Weisz, author of the Dorothy Knapp: Philately and Family Catalog, "90% add-ons, 5% altered cancels and outright forgeries and 5% of the period serviced with his primitive cachets."
      Offer from Weisz Stamps & Covers: "I’m happy to help people evaluate their covers and learn about the hobby. Douglas Weisz "

      This page displays Add-on First Day Cover (FDC) cachets created by Herbert Meisels (4-10-1925 New York, NY - 2016? city?) of New York, NY, under the Cachet line: "A Touch of Class". Because of his unique painting style, I think he did all of the cachets on this page, even the unsigned ones, but I may be wrong in some cases. No Meisels cachet has appeared in any published Catalog that I am aware of. No details about this Cachetmaker have come to light, so it is unknown whether or not any of these cachets were painted before they were canceled or if they are all add-ons applied possibly years after the First Day date. Except for #649-650 and #1952, I have seen no duplicates (the same design with two different addressees) of any other designs, so the rest of the cachets may be one-of-a-kind. Except as noted by "{A}" (mistakes I bought for my personal collection, covers on order have not arrived yet), the other displayed covers were found on the Web.

      References -- What's New on this page

      U.S. Scott #nnn = U.S. Scott Catalog number.
      mm-dd-yyyy - First Day of Issue

1. U.S. Scott #649-650, 12-12-1928, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
         TBA -- Work-in-progress trying to sort them into some kind of a logical order like I did with #1952. I have about 30 different scans of of these two issues.


2. U.S. Scott #682, 4-08-1930, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
   
3. U.S. Scott #723, 8-18-1932, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
   
4. U.S. Scott #724, 10-24-1932, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
   
5. U.S. Scott #727, 4-19-1933, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
   
6. U.S. Scott #737, 5-02-1934, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
   
7. U.S. Scott #739-NIP4, 7-07-1934, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
   
8. U.S. Scott #739-NIP4a, 7-07-1934, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
   
9. U.S. Scott #739-NIP4b, 7-07-1934, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
   
10. U.S. Scott #749, 10-08-1934, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
11. U.S. Scott #755, 3-15-1935, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
12. U.S. Scott #774, 9-30-1935, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
13. U.S. Scott #788, 3-23-1937, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
14. U.S. Scott #790-794, 5-26-1937, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) --- [#402, 57(7), 10/2012, p. 39]
    
15. U.S. Scott #795, 7-13-1937, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
16. U.S. Scott #800-NIP21, 11-12-1937, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
17. U.S. Scott #806EE, 4-05-1939, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
18. U.S. Scott #834, 11-17-1938, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
19. U.S. Scott #834a, 11-17-1938, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
20. U.S. Scott #934, 9-28-1945, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
21. U.S. Scott #1383, 10-14-1969, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
22. U.S. Scott #1386, 12-03-1969, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
23. U.S. Scott #1565-1568, 7-04-1975, 1st A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) -- [#358, 52(3), 4-15-2007, p. 32]
          "5 designs for first on #10 envelope, signed Meisels" [#358, 52(3), 4-15-2007, p. 35]
    
24. U.S. Scott #1690, 6-01-1976, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
25. U.S. Scott #1710, 5-20-1977, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
26. U.S. Scott #1771, 1-13-1979, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
27. U.S. Scott #1952, 2-22-1982, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
          Row 1) 1 of 1? -- Row 2) 1 of 100 -- Row 3) 1 of 50 with border -- Row 4) 1 of 50 without border
    
    
    
    
28. U.S. Scott #2343, 5-23-1988, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
29. U.S. Scott #2933, 9-13-1995, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
30. U.S. Scott #3152, 7-31-1997, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
31. U.S. Scott #3352, 10-08-1999, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) --- (AFDCS Auction #83 Lot 92)
    
32. U.S. Scott #3384, 4-10-2000, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
33. U.S. Scott #3385, 4-10-2000, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
34. U.S. Scott #3387, 4-10-2000, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
35. U.S. Scott #3388, 4-10-2000, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
36. U.S. Scott #3545, 10-18-2001, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
37. U.S. Scott #3900, 3-15-2005, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
38. U.S. Scott #3902, 3-15-2005, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
39. U.S. Scott #3903, 3-15-2005, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
40. U.S. Scott #3946, 10-03-2005, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    

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#C -- U.S. Airmail Stamps


41. U.S. Scott #C19, 6-30-1934, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay))
    
42. U.S. Scott #C59, 4-22-1960, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
43. U.S. Scott #C92, 9-23-1978, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
        with #C91 12-17-1978 event cancel
    

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#CE -- U.S. Airmail Special Delivery Stamps


44. U.S. Scott #CE1, 8-30-1934, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    

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#U -- U.S. Stamped Envelopes


45. U.S. Scott #U525, 1-01-1932, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
46. U.S. Scott #U534, 1-18-1950, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
47. U.S. Scott #U527, 1-01-1932, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
48. U.S. Scott #U548, 3-26-1968, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    

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#UC -- U.S. Stamped Airmail Envelopes and Air Letter Sheets (Aerogrammes)


49. U.S. Scott #UC37a, 8-15-1967, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    

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#Events -- non-FDC


50. #1984-08-01 Event, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
51. #1988-10-14 Event, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    
52. #2007-01-20 Event, A Touch of Class (Herb Meisels) (add-on) --- (eBay)
    

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#Sold -- Lots sold. Hopefully the buyers can be tracked down someday for their assistance with information and/or scans of possibly hundreds more Herb Meisels cachets.


53. #2009-02-20
          [#382, 55(3), 4-15-2010, p. 28]
          "Meisels, Herbert "Herb" (1925- ) -- The Herb Meisels "Touch of Class" cover stock from New York City was sold in the Harmer-Schau Auction Galleries' Worldwide Philatelic Collection, February 20-22, 2009, sale (Petaluma, CA: Harmer-Schau Auction Galleries, Inc., 2009, 13I p. + 7l p. of photos). Douglas Weisz U.S. Covers purchased many of Meisels cachets and other FDC stock."
          [#383, 55(4), 6-01-2010, p. 58]
          "Meisels, Herbert "Herb" (1925- ) -- Douglas Weisz Covers purchased Meisels FDC collection as well as his "Touch of Class" original cachets and add-ons. Other cover collections were sold by Harmer-Schau Auction Galleries during its February 20-22, 2009, auction."
          Harmer-Schau Auction Galleries, Inc. Sale 80, APS AmeriStamp Expo/TEXPEX 2009
          "Lot 2008 Realized $4,945" -- No photos were taken of anything in this Lot.
          "U.S. Cachet and F.D. Cover Collections, "Touch of Class" Accumulation, thousands of covers and cards, First Day's and events, from the 1920's to 2000's, mostly hand painted cachets, plus some interesting add-on items, incl. higher denominations, numerous variations on the same theme or issue, incl. racing, football, animals, flowers, movie stars, war and Presidential, all limited editions, some numbered, no heavy duplication, worth inspection, Fine to Very Fine. Estimate $5,000-6,000."


54. #2010-02-19 -- [#422, 60(3), 5-6/2015, p. 28]
          "Meisels, Herbert -- Harmer-Schau Auction Galleries, Inc. APS Ameristamp Expo philatelic auction, February 19–21, 2010, Riverside, CA. Petaluma, CA, 2010. Lot 2752: “U.S. Cachet and F.D. Cover Collection, ‘Touch of Class’: Final Installment, Many Thousands of Covers and Cards, First Days and Events, from 1920s to 2000 (most 1950s and Later).” Accumulation in 13 boxes."
          Harmer-Schau Auction Galleries, Inc. Sale 84, APS AmeriStamp Expo
          "Lot 2752 Realized $1,380" -- No photos were taken of anything in this Lot.
          "U.S. Cachet and F.D. Cover Collections, "Touch of Class" Accumulation in 13 Boxes, Final installment, many thousands of covers and cards, First Day's and events, from 1920's to 2000's (most 1950's and later), mostly handpainted cachets, plus some interesting add-on items, incl. higher denominations, numerous variations on the same theme or issue, incl. racing, football, animals, flowers, movie stars, war and Presidential, all limited editions, some numbered, some heavy duplication incl. ½ box of #1565-68, also 13¢ State Flag, approx. box full worth of heavily dupl. Kentucky Derby related covers, programs, etc., some baseball (opening day cards), dupl. Carter and other Inaugural postcards, inspect, excellent for promotion, clean, generally Fine to Very Fine. Estimate $1,000-1,500."


55. #2010-10-14 -- Sold for $50 by www.liveauctioneers.com
          Cannot display individual covers as the scans are too tiny and overlapped.
          "40 Artist Hand Painted FDC Covers Stamps Meisels 1970s"
    


56. #2010-10-27 -- Sold for $20 by www.icollector.com
          Cannot display individual covers as the scans are too tiny and overlapped.
          "49650 44 Painted FDC Covers Numismatic Convention Stamps"
          "These 44 covers are from various numismatic association conventions, but what makes them special is the artwork: each is individually hand embellished by an artist known as Meisels, and some bare his signature. Most are hand painted, and a few have cut-out printed images pasted on. They date from the 1970's and 80's, and include the Milwaukee, Convention, . The imagery features a lot of collaged currency, and silver and gold painting. If you love stamp shows, and want something totally original, these are terrific covers."
    

On-line References:
• Search for "Meisels" at: The Postal History of ICAO by Albert Pelsser

Page created by Douglas H. Henkle (Contact): henkle@pobox.com