Tientsin, China, in 1903 was still recovering from the Boxer Rebellion. Contingents of European nations were still flexing their muscles. Correspondence from the many people deployed from Europe is relatively common. This postal card to a damsel in Madrid is typical.
The cover is franked with a 1900 4c orange brown Chinese Imperial Post Coiling Dragon (probably Scott 113). It was cancelled in Tientsin on June 9, 1903. It proceeded to Shanghai for a transit mark on June 13. There I believe it was transferred to the French Post Office as evidenced by the French CDS - 'SHANG-HAI | CHINE'. Unfortunately the date cannot be deciphered clearly beyond June but I expect it was June 13 as well. The next stop was in Madrid on July 24.
The illustration shows 'Wheelbarrow-kulies in Tientsin.' China has accomplished much with huge amounts of hand labor. They built roads and dams with nothing more than wheelbarrows like those shown.
jimbo
M is for the March of Dimes
This organization was created by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 to fight polio which was then on the rise. First known as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, it began a polio patient aid program and funded research on vaccines.
Once the Salk vaccines were produced and distributed there were no more polio epidemics, and the focus of the organization shifted to preventing birth defects and infant mortality. These days, premature birth is also targeted.
I have seen five slogan cancels relating to the March of Dimes, four of which are shown below. The fifth is:
GIVE
TO THE
MARCH OF DIMES
known used from 1975 to 1986.
The Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in east Portland, Oregon was built in 1923. Its main focus was orthopedics to help children with polio. In 1983 a new hospital was built on Marquam Hill and a wide range of pediatric orthopedic conditions are treated there.
The old hospital was deconstructed in 2004, and the affordable living complex “Columbia Knoll” was built on the site.
M is for Mauritius
I have a large collection of Mauritius which badly needs sorting out - plenty of covers and plenty of blocks:-
1867 cover to Bordeaux via Marseilles SG 62
SG101
SG 118
SG123
and SG 129
I had thought to post this one under 'H' for Henderson, but procrastination took hold and it's really better posted under 'M' for both Mozambique and Motorcycle. There is more detail in the link...
@sheryll*net wrote:The Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children in east Portland, Oregon was built in 1923. Its main focus was orthopedics to help children with polio. In 1983 a new hospital was built on Marquam Hill and a wide range of pediatric orthopedic conditions are treated there.
The old hospital was deconstructed in 2004, and the affordable living complex “Columbia Knoll” was built on the site.
I spent many months at the hospital on 82nd and Sandy in Portland between 1964 and 1971... My record was 7 months 20 days with three operations and recovery. 🙂
March of Dimes (cont)
billsey - That's a long time! I hope you were treated well there.
Here is the fifth slogan as mentioned below.
Known used from 1964-1986. The type of machine used was Mark II.
Note that this is a very cheap collecting area. I happened to see this cover and picked it up out of our stamp club sales boxes last night for 5c.
I also thought it was going to fit into my "Order of Statehood Correspondence" display, (42 WA -> 43 ID) but the redirection to 48 AZ makes it ineligible.
My favoritte "M" country would be Monaco. Below are some of my favorite pages from this tiny place thay only six times bigger than my than my property, location location location! In the past few months I've added several of the difficult stamps from the first semi postal page and nearly all of the stamps from the second semi postal page.
Some really interesting items.
Sheryll, The March of Dimes is one of the oldest charities along with the Red Cross that I remember. We used to have sheets of plywood on sawhorses with slots for collecting dimes for them. Brings back memories.
Rich, F.A.M. 14 items are always of interest to me. I'll bet everyone gets some thrill from the China Clipper.
Peter, Beautiful Mauritius items. Those blocks are wonderful and well-scanned.
Anne, I know what you mean by a letter you didn't want to get. Not many of those ever got sent to Montana!
Bill, The Henderson motorcycle story is one I had never heard. Always a great day when you can learn something new.
Matt, Mixed Flour? A tax on adulterated flour? Sounds like the taxes on colored margarine. Fun item.
Mitch, Your Monaco is impressive. A nice choice for display.
And now a daily contribution. Note the neat inclusion of M is for Macau 😉
This UPU card has a very interesting franking (apparently there was no prepaid postage). It is the 1911 1a black Typeset Provisional (Scott 162 - Ed. Note: Healthy catalog value). There is a Macau CDS for August 14.
The arrival in Hong Kong was noted by an August 15 CDS .
The recipient was Graca & Co. in the Hongkong Ho[t]el Building. This firm took photographs of southeast Asia and published postcards for years. Their name is found on many Asian picture postcards from the early 20th century. There was apparently some philatelic interest in many of the used cards.
The sender said, "Will post today[?] 100 cards." Apparently an ordinary business transaction.
One doesn't see something like this every day.
jimbo
M is for Montserrat specimen stamps with Madagascar and Mauritania receiving authority handstamps.
When countries received specimen stamps from the UPU, the receiving authorities would sometimes place them in record books and handstamp them with the receiving country name. Here are examples of Madagascar handstamps on Montserrat War Tax specimen stamps and Mauritania handstamps on the 1922-29 Montserrat specimen set. The stamps are affixed to pieces of their record pages.
Specimen stamps were distributed by the UPU to countries in triplicate beginning in October 1907, hence the strips of three.
It's true I am a Mad block collector so more Mauritius plate blocks
SG183
SG 184
SG 191
SG208
SG210
SG214
