Gramercy Stamp Company

Along with the coin boards of Earl & Koehler, those of New York City's Gramercy Stamp Company are the ones least often seen. Only two titles were produced, and these boards were originally produced to be included within a boxed set that also included a booklet about coin collecting and how to use the boards. This booklet was titled the PENNYHOBBY COIN COLLECTIN OUTFIT, and indeed, the two boards offered by Gramercy were for Indian Head or Lincoln Pennies. Unlike other coin boards, these were produced in landscape format, and this in keeping with the theme that the whole activity was something of a game to be enjoyed by the entire family. Each board came with removable plugs inserted into each opening, and these were replaced with coins as the collection grew. Examples still having any plugs are rare today.

Gramercy Stamp Company was located at 323 W. 16th Street in Manhattan, and its trade was indeed primarily in stamps, which were then (1940) a much bigger hobby than coin collecting. Both coin board titles are also known bearing an additional overprint on their backs of the Trenton Saving Fund Society in New Jersey. In fact, these are the ones most often seen, and it's likely that they were distributed free of charge to the bank's customers as stand alone items without the box and booklet.

​Gramercy Stamp Company operated out of Manhattan's Chelsea District at 323 W. 16th Street. The building is seen in a rather grim photo from 1940 (left, arrow at bottom) and as it was in 2006 (above). The neighborhood has certainly gone upscale since its Gramercy days.

This booklet was included as part of a boxed set containing the two titles of Gramercy coin boards, and the cover of that box appears on it.