RS239P1 George Tallcot Medicine Stamp, Large Die Proof, ex Joyce

George Tallcot of New York City started rolling pills in the summer of 1870 from a recipe that he acquired, and he called them the Magic Cure “without quinine or other poison”. He wrote and published a folder about his magic cure for chills, fever, rheumatism and neuralgia, and since it was covered in red binding, it was known as the “Red Book”. He pack­aged his pills in a small box in an effort to stimulate sales, but de­creased demand eventually led to discontinuation of the product.

(Holcombe, Henry W., Weekly Philatelic Gossip, 32: 336-338, May 24, 1941)

Morton Dean Joyce (1900–1989), of New York City, was a philatelist who specialized in the collection of United States revenue stamps and became known by his philatelic friends as the “Dean of United States revenue collectors.”

Models, Essays and Proofs of the Morton Dean Joyce Collection
The collection of Morton Dean Joyce contained a magnificent array of the models and large die proofs, including trial color and plate proofs. It seems that Morton Dean Joyce was able to obtain the majority, if not the complete holding, of the Butler and Carpenter Archives including the Order Book which contained the original models. Nearly all of the models that are listed in the Turner book are present in the Morton Dean Joyce Collection. From that point on Joyce researched the large dies according to company from Butler and Carpenter through the National and American Bank Note Companies to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Whenever there was a chance to show trial color proofs or additional information, Joyce did so and the results (were) his collection…The area of models, essays and proofs of the private die proprietary issues was quite possibly Morton Dean Joyce’s most outstanding accomplishment.
Richard Friedberg, Introduction to the Morton Dean Joyce Private Die Proprietary Collection Auction Catalog, Andrew Levitt, September 12-14, 1991