Sigismond Wise appears in the New York Directory for 1869-70 as producing or dealing in matches, but after that time as a merchant or city clerk. The stamps were issued only on February 20, 1869. 110,000 were printed on old paper. Twenty-three surviving copies are recorded in the Aldrich census.

In Private Die Match Stamps by Elliott Perry writing as Christopher West, we find the following comment: "...the Wise is a mediocre production about on a par with the least attractive medicine stamps." I heartily disagree.