RS72P1 Curtis & Brown Manufacturing Co. Medicine Stamp, Large Die Proof, ex Joyce

Mrs. Winslow’s soothing Syrup was originated in 1835, and it was trademarked in 1852 by Curtis and Perkins of New York City. In the 1860s Jeremiah Curtis and Son (Perkins having dropped out of the firm about 1856 and Curtis’ son having joined the organization in 1860) asked the question “Who is Mrs. Winslow?” The answer they gave is that “she is a lady who, for upwards of thirty years has untiringly devoted her time and talents as a female physician and nurse, principally among her children … we think that Mrs. Winslow has immortalized her name by this invaluable article (Soothing Syrup) which has saved thous a?nds of children from an early grave…” In 1865 Curtis formed a limited part­ nership with John I. Brown of Boston under the name of Curtis and Brown to market Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup as well as Brown’s Bronchial Troches. In 1880, Jeremiah Curtis and Son were dis­solved and a new firm known as the Anglo-American Drug Company was form­ed expressly to market Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Syrup. After Samuel Hopkins Adam’s attacks and the 1906 Food and Drug Act, morphine was eliminated as the main constituent of the syrup, but Mrs. Winslow’s Sooth­ing Syrup is still on the market today consisting largely of rhubarb and senna.

(Holcombe, Henry w. Weekly Philatelic Gossip, 33: 608-609, February 14, 1942; 33: 680-681, March 7, 1942; Stamps and Cover Collectors Re­view, 1: 91-93, April, 1937; see also Gerald Carson, p. 107)

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