Let's Try A Cover A Day Again
Greetings everyone!
I was just thinking that I had very much enjoyed doing the "cover a day" challenge back in the Spring of 2020. Perhaps there isn't as much motivation to do this as there was then, but I do still miss having conversations with others who like the hobby.
I will set for myself the challenge of posting a cover each day on this thread every day for ninety days. Anyone who wants to join me and show some postal history may feel free to do so (doesn't matter if its modern, older, US or any other part of the world).
For those who do not remember the prior thread, it is here.
80 comments
oggilby
·3 years agoThanks Rob for your posts. I will continue to read them on FB!
billsey
·3 years agoYou mean other than you have to subtract the one cent stamp from the rest in order to get 33 cents total? 🙂
malolo
·3 years agoIt is franked 35 cents, so 2 cents over paid?
What I find interesting is that the return address is Swiss Consulate Philadelphia, top right.
Often on Swiss covers something like the red 3 would indicate tripleweight, but this does notlook tripleweight to me.
rfaux
OP3 years agoCorrect, yes. This item is overpaid. Otherwise, it's a pretty darned nice example of the Prussian Closed Mails to Switzerland from the US.
If you look closely, there is a weiterfranco 1 and then the red 3. So, 1 silbergroschen = 3 kreuzer is paid forward to Switzerland for their portion of the postage.
And yes, this item probably will deserve another Postal History Sunday in the future, complete with delving into the Swiss consulate in Philly. Sometimes it's a matter of how much time one has to do the deeper digging. Just haven't found the time and motivation at the same moment to follow through on this one. But I will eventually.
R
rfaux
OP3 years agoThis week's Postal History Sunday explores the how and the why of this cover, mailed in 1864 with $1.20 in postage stamps applied. Unfortunately, $1.20 wasn't enough and the postage stamps ended up paying for ..... NOTHING. The recipient, in Scotland, had to pay six shillings more (the equivalent of $1.44) to receive this letter.
rfaux
OP3 years agoThis week's entry for Postal History Sunday is live and available for viewing if you are among those who might enjoy viewing it.
One of the covers featured in this week's article is shown below. Two 12-cent 1851 demonitized stamps were not recognized for postage, so the whole was treated as short paid.
Have a good day all!
rfaux
OP3 years agoIs this folded letter from 1867 just a standard, simple letter sent from France to Switzerland, or is it something much more uncommon?
People who explore postal history frequently seek things that are difficult to find. The pencil markings at the bottom make a claim that this is an elusive double weight letter that used the special reduced postage rate for border communities.
Were they right? This week's Postal History Sunday holds the answer!
rfaux
OP3 years agoIt's time for Postal History Sunday again. This time around, I share some favorite items including this folded letter from Basel, Switzerland to London, England in 1859.
oggilby
·3 years agoAll those beautiful covers that you and Roger are posting, thank you kindly! I might post an ordinary cover on of these days.. including US WW II free Frank that I discovered in my mish mash of US covers squirreled away long ago and just found in my moving clan up. Keep up these images!
rfaux
OP3 years agooggilby,
Thanks for saying something. It's a pleasure to be able to share and know that some folks are enjoying the show and tell. By all means, share anything and everything you might like.
Roger,
It just hit me that you showed a printed matter rate to a destination outside of Switzerland. Between that and the 7 decimes due cover you have shown two items I'd love to find myself someday. Nice!
Below is a Strubel cover that isn't as nice as the other two, but it came at a nice price and properly illustrated the 40 rappen rate to France. This was my first Strubel cover and I was (and still am) thrilled to pick it up. I actually have a batch of off-cover Strubel stamps that I should try to convert to cash and see if I can pick up another cover or two...
rfaux
OP3 years agoToday's Postal History Sunday focuses on trying to figure out this "merry chase" item that was mailed from Boston to London, forwarded to Florence, Italy and then to Venice.
malolo
·3 years agoRob - The printed matter rate items are out there, but must be separated from the domestic postage rated items. Of Course the PD is the give-away. Sometime the most difficult to identify are the cross border rate items where there are no special markings, usually just an odd rate, such as 15 centimes for a regulat looking envelope.
12 February 1910
A free military postcard sent from Bellinzona (razor canceler) to the Bundeshaus (capitol building) in Bern, then forwarded to Herisau which had a military presence. Since it was addrssed to a regimental commander, I guess the mail clerks knew where to find him. LOL
About a year ago I learned that in Switzerland they now consider this Bellinzona date stamp a transit mark. The mail was apparently collected on military bases, then bagged and delivered to the nearest post offices for sorting and distribution. So for the few military items I have with razor cancels their classification is changed from outgoing mail to transit , which makes most of them worth considerably more! ); >)
malolo
·3 years agoRob - The printed matter rate items are out there, but must be separated from the domestic postage rated items. Of Course the PD is the give-away. Sometime the most difficult to identify are the cross border rate items where there are no special markings, usually just an odd rate, such as 15 centimes for a regulat looking envelope.
12 February 1910
A free military postcard sent from Bellinzona (razor canceler) to the Bundeshaus (capitol building) in Bern, then forwarded to Herisau which had a military presence. Since it was addrssed to a regimental commander, I guess the mail clerks knew where to find him. LOL
About a year ago I learned that in Switzerland they now consider this Bellinzona date stamp a transit mark. The mail was apparently collected on military bases, then bagged and delivered to the nearest post offices for sorting and distribution. So for the few military items I have with razor cancels their classification is changed from outgoing mail to transit , which makes most of them worth considerably more! ); >)
rfaux
OP3 years agoGoing back to the Strubel theme. Here's an item from Basel to Wurttemberg. The cost was 10 rappen per rayon. Basel was in the first rayon for Switzerlands. The destination was in the second rayon for the GAPU.
malolo
·3 years agoRob - you have more Strubel covers than I ever had. I do have a lot of stamps though.
13 February 1901
An interesting card sent from Bern to London. The sender had already stuck a 1900 UPU commemorative stamp onto the card, but that series was invalid after December 31, 1900, so this is 5 weeks too late for valid use. The person stuck on a 10 centimes numeral stamp, but at first sight the clerk somewhere in the back of the post office didn't recognize the red stamp on red stamp, marked the stamp invalid with the blue crayon rectangle and "T" for postage due, but then realized the numeral stamp made it all OK. Therefore, crossed out the "T" and the blue line around the stamps. I've never seen another example like this.
malolo
·3 years agoHi Rob, You're right on both items.
I failed to take into account the 50 centimes rate for unfranked letters which is my letter. The underpaid letter meant 100 centimes minus the 30 paid.
10 February 1922
Uprated German postal card 250 pfennig for international postage to Engleberg, Switzerland For some reason this acquired a Luzern-Engleberg-Luzern railway transit marking which was the route from Luzern to Engelberg. Why it receiveed the railway date stamp and not hat of Luzern is anybody's guess.
malolo
·3 years ago11 February 1874
Uprated postal envelope to make the 30 centimes rate to Paris, France from Zürich.
billsey
·3 years agoRoger, was that the correct rate on the FDC? 32 centimes seems like an odd rate, but I'm not up on the correct rates for the period.
malolo
·3 years agoHi Bill - You are correct to see something suspect. The local letter rate for a letter was 5 centimes, so one must guess this was mailed by a collector to himself. No different than many items one sees today in exhibits with modern topics, etc, etc. 😞 >)
malolo
·3 years agoToday's trifecta are the following:
30 January 1901 - Local letter from Chur (razor cancel) to Churwalden.
31 January 1901 - Lausanne to St Imier postal card used to collect Fr12.35. Local postage 5 centimes plus 10 centimes per 10 Fr to collect, thus 20 centimes fee. Uncollected after two tries (see bottom of card showing two attempts by mailman)
1 February 1901 - Business postcard fro Bienne to Geneve with Geneve rue du Stand razor cancel used as a receiver. 5 centimes domestic postcard rate.
rfaux
OP3 years agoHello all,
My "hobby time" was a bit absorbed with preparing for a virtual presentation for the Collector's Club of New York. So, I thought I'd make it up by sharing some of the slides in that presentation. I started by showing what would be a typical piece of letter mail in the 1860s from the United States to the United Kingdom. There is a 24 cent stamp at top right with a Boston "paid" cancellation. There is an exchange marking for Boston that was applied before the letter was put in the mailbag. It stayed in that mailbag until it got to the London exchange office.
Have a great day all!
malolo
·3 years ago2 February 1923
Exactly 100 years ago today this cover was mailed at the La Sagne station for Granges via the Chaux-de-Fonds - Ponts-de-Martel Railway (16 km long)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Chaux-de-Fonds–Les_Ponts-de-Martel_railway
malolo
·3 years ago3 February 1903
Printed matter envelope ( single line cross out) sent as domestic letter from Zürich to Wädensweil. This business, Orel Füssli, was probably the largest printing/publisher in Switzerland at the time. The company was originally founded in 1519!
rfaux
OP3 years agoI'll share another slide from this Wednesday's presentation. The Collector's Club has the presentation video up and accessible to all for the next week and a half, after which they will put it behind the membership wall. So, if you are interested, the presentation is here.
nadams3
·3 years agoCHILE AMBULANCE #118
The Chanaral – Llanta – Potrerillos line in Chile is one of the most stunning railways in the world. It connects Potrerillos, a now abandoned town and mine in the remote Andes located 2850 meters above sea level, with the filtration plant and workshops in Llanta and Diego de Almagro, where the line connects to the Longitudinal Norte, and continues to Chañaral and the harbor at Barquito. The line was built starting 1916 by the Andes Copper Mining Company to connect the Potrerillos copper mine and smelter with Pueblo Hundido (now called Diego de Almagro), where it connected to the state railway network, which continued to Chañaral.
rfaux
OP3 years agonadams3,
Very interesting. A time period and area I know very little about, so it is always interesting to learn a bit more. Thank you for sharing this item and the research on the rail line connections.
Rob
rfaux
OP3 years agoI won't be able to post tomorrow, so I will get my post for that day out there now. This is an ongoing project "Merry Chase" cover that requires a little more research before I can say I've got it all figured. Essentially, this was supposed to be an item sent from the US via Prussian Closed Mail to Switzerland, but it somehow found its way in Italy for a while - after going through Switzerland apparently.
It's going to be a fun one!
rfaux
OP3 years agoHere's an internal letter (mailed within France for a destination in France) that properly pays the 40 centimes required to get the letter from there to there. The "O" in a circle was applied because this letter was placed in a rural mail drop box for the carrier to pick up and take to the nearest post office. Each such box hand a handstamp that stayed in the box. The carrier would take it out and mark the letters they had taken from the box. In this case, the "O" in circle was the image applied by the handstamp in this particular box. It would allow the French postal service to track use of these boxes.
malolo
·3 years agoRob - I think your cover that was supposed to go to Geneva went via Italy because a clerk misread the city name as Genoa. The date stamps show transiting Alessandria, Novi, Genoa (illegible), Turin, Geneva. If a guy put it in a the Italy bag in Germany, it wouldn't have been seen while transiting Switzerland the first time. That's my guess.
26 January 1875
Pre-UPU printed matter to Calw, Wurttemberg. PD indicates full payment.
rfaux
OP3 years agoFor those who have interest, this week's Postal History Sunday is available. You can view the entire history of PHS by going here, the entries are in most recent first order.
And here is the first item featured in the most recent Postal History Sunday, an 1863 envelope mailed from the US to the island of Guernsey.
malolo
·3 years agoAgain, reached weekend and missed daily posts.
27 January 1873
First issue domestic Swiss postal card uprated for international use to Baden. Switzerland had an agreement with Germany States to exchange postal cards, but not France or Italy. This card to Lahr, Baden from Maienfeld.
airbornestamps
·3 years agoLove the researchable aspects of your posts.. here are some facts on the S/S Arabia..
billsey
·3 years agoThere are always scammers trying to defraud the post office. I'm a bit surprised it wasn't caught though, since it likely had a somewhat visible cancel on it...
malolo
·3 years agoHi Bill,
I think in this case someone in France had the stamp off an earlier letter they received and to save time and inconvenience cut it out and glued it onto the letter so when it was carried to Basel and deposited in a mail box it would not come back for postage. The sender's address was in France.
Meanwhile, 19 January 1909
Postal card mailed in Fleurier at the station on the Travers-Buttes railway. This is the same line as the Travers Regional which goes through Couvet. This valley was in its time famous for wormwood, the flavoring ingredient in absinthe, and pitch mined and melted out of limestone rock to obtain the thick residue to make asphalt, which was shipped all over the world to give roads all weather surfaces.
malolo
·3 years ago20 January 1905
Postcard mailed from Baulmes, a small village on the Ste Croix Regional railway line. There was actually a major cement mining factory in this smalltown. This card went to Monaco.
malolo
·3 years ago21 January 1868
International pre-UPU letter from Chaux-de-Fonds to Paris, 30 centimes to France. Probably referencing a legal situation since it is from one attorney to another.
rfaux
OP3 years agoThe envelope shown above carried a letter from Rome to Paris in 1856. The cost of mailing such a letter was 20 bajocchi (20 baj per 6 denari : Oct 1, 1853 - Jun 30, 1860) and there were three stamps properly paying that postage applied to the front. That's great that I know the proper postage rate for this particular destination on that date (and now you do too!). But, how did the person who delivered this letter know that the recipient did not have to pay anything more?
Remember - at this point in time, you also had the option to send letters UNPAID with the expectation that the recipient would pay the postage. It really would be helpful if the carrier or clerk who delivered this item would not have to carry a big book of postage rates along with them to check to see if it was all taken care of!
In this case, I see the red box with the "P.D." and that tells me (and the carrier) that this item was "payée à destination," which translates to "paid to destination."
For more, you can visit this week's Postal History Sunday.
rfaux
OP3 years agoSince I showed something from the Papal States to France yesterday, here's a small envelope mailed from Rome in 1856 to England. What this does is help to illustrate the cumulative effect for postage rates that was common at the time. 20 bajocchi to France from Rome to help pay for transit through some of the other Italian states, such as Sardinia. To get to the UK, you have to transit France, which adds to the cost.
malolo
·3 years ago22 January 1873
10 centimes for domestic letter from Geneva to Sentier. The bank had its own date stamp on outgoing mail!
rfaux
OP4 years agoAh! It's always so nice to see some classic period Swiss material show up. Thanks Roger! I may have asked this before, but what resource is your go to for Swiss postal rates? Is there one for foreign rates as well as internal?
Billsey, I do not know much about cachets on first days myself, but it is my understanding that Doug Weisz (a dealer based in New Orleans) probably has the knowledge and resources to help you if you were so inclined.
Rob
rfaux
OP4 years agoWelcome to Day 2 of the new Cover A Day challenge. I thought I'd do something different from what I shared the last time and go with an 1856 piece of letter mail from Bologna in the Papal States to Paris, France. The 20 bajocchi of postage correctly pay the rate for that point in time. The letter traveled overland via Tuscany and Sardinia. It crossed the border between Sardinia and France at Pont de Beauvoison.
Have a good day all,
Rob
rfaux
OP4 years agoWelcome to Day 3 of the Cover A Day Challenge! Anyone who would like to share a bit of postal history in this thread is welcome to do so! Or, if you would rather just lurk and enjoy what I (and others post), good enough!
Today, I thought I would share a nice advertising cover. I've always enjoyed illustrations like this one, that makes you feel as if there is a 3rd dimension on a 2-dimensional piece. If you would like to read more about it, I featured this particular item in a Postal History Sunday.
Have a good day all!
Rob
anjie234
·3 years ago@rfaux
Anyone who would like to share a bit of postal history in this thread is welcome to do so! Or, if you would rather just lurk and enjoy what I (and others post), good enough!
Let me tell you, I have been lurking and thoroughly enjoying your posts!
Of the long list of things that have interested me in life, philatelics was not one of them. However, it's
truly fascinating. And your writing is wonderful and so refreshing! If you are not a professional writer, you certainly could be. I just spent some time at your website. It's fantastic! I love your "merry chases"! Just had to let you know.
rfaux
OP3 years agoanjie234,
I had a conversation earlier today with a person who told me that they had received a kind letter that had really made their day and I was so pleased for them. They are a storyteller who has been at it for many, many years, often with minimal appreciation. I told her I had written a note to someone else just this past week that I had appreciated something they had done and we both agreed that more of this sort of kindness would be a good thing in the world.
Then I read this.
This is unexpected as I wasn't really thinking about something coming my way. I was more thinking about trying to tell others how much I appreciate them.
Thank you. This truly came at a good time and is encouragement I needed.
Rob