13 December 1900
A razor cancel collector's delight. It's a shame there is a piece of dirt at 4 o'clock on the cancel, but hey, you can't have everything, considering most countries of the world were happy with a smear or smudge of ink to deface their stamps. LOL
The stamp at an angle indicates a little hanky-panky going on, but the message has been kept on a literary level to avoid questions by those nosy enough to read other people's postcards. I'd say Ludwig was a lucky guy. ); >)
Cover dated July 21, 1916 from St. Vincent to the Registrar of Births and Deaths in Grenada showing non-philatelic and in-period usage of St. Vincent's first War Tax stamp. The War Tax Ordinance for St. Vincent went into effect on June 1, 1916, and the first War Stamps were overprinted locally pending arrival of War Stamps from De La Rue in August. This particular stamp is from the first setting as it has a comma after "STAMP" instead of a period. Grenada July 27 arrival datestamp on reverse.
14 December 1916
A free Offical letter from the Post Office Department to the Editor of the publication "Der Entlebucher".
Hello everyone! I'm just going to go with a fancy cover that connects to farming. Currently traveling... we've got a helper dealing with our poultry right now as we take a needed break from them (the poultry, not the helper).
Rob
15 December 1919
Express letter from Munich to Chur, Switzerland. Opened and resealed usually to determine if money was inside against regulations. Chur receiver on reverse was the first razor canceler to have the hatchures removed above and below the date bridge and replaced with the Swiss Cross and District number in Roman numerals.
All of a sudden, I'm in the mood to post flashy, all-over advertising covers - not sure why. This one, however, inspired today's Postal History Sunday. It just so happens that Rock Island Railroad went through my home town - and this particular cover was postmarked on the Corn Belt Rocket, which also passed through that town.
Well I've been held hostage to the World Cup and sharing the games with my 7 year old grandson, who is hooked on football. It hasn't left much time for stamps since we have been watching live games, replayed games, and highlights. Now we can't wait for the English Premier League to re-start just before Christmas. Many of the players who have been stars for their countries play in the Premier League so we can watch them playing club ball. with teammates from many different countries!
Make-up time -
16 December 1898
Up-rated 5 centimes postal card to collect Fr2.15 for subscription to Stamp magazine. The recipient, Will Hauser, was co-owner of the Hotel Schweizerhof Luzern and apparently collected philatelic items. This is the only hard evidence I've found, other than a couple of references online from legal documents of the 1890s.
17 December 1926
International Express letter from Philadelphia, USA to Luzern, Switzerland. The intersting feature of this cover is learning that the 25 cent Niagra Falls stamp is the only known example paying the international Express rate from the USA - (5 cents postage plus 20 cents express fee). I was told this by a US collector about 20 years ago after posting it on Frajola's Chat Board . (Maybe other have been found since then, who knows.)
18 December 1907
Printed matter wrapper from Chur to Rueggisberg, near Bern. This rate for item weighing 50>250gms.
Here's a very different thing for me. A little stampless letter sent internally in Spain during the year 1843. I don't know anything about the rates at this point in time. It was a $5 item that looked nice and I figured it would give me the excuse to learn something new.... Now, to figure out how to go about the learning.
Have a good day all!
Here's another small Spanish stampless cover, this one is from 1840. What got me was the fact that I could pick up a small batch of them for little money - each with a different postage rate from the looks of it. Sometimes, this is how a Postal History Sunday starts. The hardest part is finding the resources with the info I need.
Have a good day all!
19 December 1900
A nice mixed franking letter from Bern to Langggenried near Fraubrunnen. The combination of the UPU 5 centimes stamp and the definitive 5 centimes stamp is highly collected, not many available.
Today, I'll return to the 24 cent material and show one in combination with two Black Jacks to make up the 28 cent rate via Prussian Closed mail to Bavaria, a destination inside the German Austrian Postal Union. The blue box was applied in Aachen, at the border between Prussia and Belgium. Franco indicates that the letter was to be treated as fully paid.
20 December 1911
A phone bill to a customer that originated within the Zürich money section. One must understand that the Swiss PTT (Post, Telephone and Telegraph) was a monopoly, therefore bills were sent in the mail.
Don't you wish your phone bill was 1 Franc 30 centimes plus 12 centimes postage!
Local calls cost Fr1.25, and interurban 30 cenitmes worth of calls.
