Lot
513 
Francis Bannerman. Attractive all over design showing Spencer Repeating Shotgun with Championship Medals, franked with 1890 2¢ tied by New York duplex cancel, reverse with text advertising, Very Fine. Estimate $100 - 150.
Francis Bannerman immigrated with his in 1854, when he was three, and settled in Brooklyn. His father established a business selling flags, rope and other articles acquired at Navy auctions. When he joined the union army during the Civil War, 13-year-old Francis began running the business. At the close of the Civil War, the U.S. government auctioned off military goods by the ton, mostly to be scrapped for their metal.
Young Francis can be called the "Father of the Army-Navy Store," for he was one of the first to realize that much of what was being sold had a market value higher than scrap. Under his guidance, Bannerman's became the world's largest buyer of surplus military equipment. Their storeroom and showroom, taking up a full block at 501 Broadway, opened to the public in 1905. Of it, the New York Herald said, "No museum in the world exceeds it in the number of exhibits."
At the close of the Spanish American War, Francis Bannerman purchased 90 percent of all captured goods in a sealed bid, and it became necessary to find a secure place to store their large quantity of very volatile black powder. His son, David, saw Pollopel Island, in the Hudson, and Francis Bannerman purchased it in 1900.
Realized: $180