Here is an airmail cover from British Honduras to London dated July 31, 1932. It was posted at the Pan American Airways office at the Belize airport and was cancelled by PAA office datestamps. Unfortunately, there are no markings or datestamps on the reverse. Pan Am ran a tri-weekly Belize service using an amphibious plane beginning in May 1929, and was allowed to receive and cancel mail as long the franking was correct.
This cover was carried from The Dalles, OR to Canal Zone in 1914. The sender was Marguerite Nielsen (younger sister was 19 at the time) to Dora Nielsen (oldest daughter was 32 at the time). Dora had been working initially as a teacher and later as a supervisor for the government but her position was abolished at the end of June 1914. She took a trip back home (arriving in NY on July 23 aboard the SS Almirante) then back again to CZ before this letter was sent. She was rehired as a teacher (at a greatly reduced salary) in April 1915. So, she certainly was likely to be moving around in October. I see the letter arrived at Balboa Heights on the 21st, then sent to Ancón where it was received on the 22nd. In purple a forwarding note sends it to Cristóbal where it was forwarded again on the 23 to Gatún where it was received on the 23rd.
The Dalles, OR to Canal Zone 1914BTW, Dora was a bit of a spinster in 1914, 32 years old and unmarried. She did meet Alfred Bechlem while in CZ and they were married, likely in November 1915. She resigned her position then and didn't go back to work until Alfred joined the active service in 1918. He lived through the war and I believe they stayed married the rest of their lives, though they moved around a bit at least to NY and Wisconsin, but she was buried near Bremerton Washington, so she came back to the PNW at some point and stayed.
July 20, 1938
Johannesburg, South Africa to Breslau, Germany
Lots of interesting things showed up on Day 5. Thanks to all of you who shared something!
Let's try to keep the momentum with Day 6.
Here's a fun item that was mailed from Chicago in May of 1866 to London. The 24 cent stamp paid for the ail service from the US to the United Kingdom. Once it arrived, it was determined that the recipient had moved on in their travels and the forwarding agent remailed the letter to Paris, France. The cost of letter mail from the United Kingdom to France was four pence, so four 1 penny reds were applied over the 24 cent stamp to send it on its way. Someone prior to me folded back one of the penny reds for display.
1 August 1878 Locarno to Broglio, transit Bignasco same day (dues applied in Bignasco since Broglio was not a full accounting office). (Letters originating from Broglio would have had a straight line town name cancel and a CDS added in Bignasco for the same reason.)
Customer used two ochre 2 centimes stamps by mistake instead of two brown 5 centimes stamps incurring postage due. Distance over 10km was 10 centimes. Treated as unpaid letter (20 centimes), credit given for the 4 centimes equals 16 centimes postage due to the recipient. No penalty only sufficient postage due to pay correct amount after considering the type of letter! This is a pretty rare rate!
My small contribution.... A Postage Free Military Post from Versailles to Johannesburg. Interestingly the figure looks strikingly familiar to the Statue of Liberty (given it was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi )
2 August 1883
This cancel is missing the Swiss cross within the bottom circle. It went missing for about 18 months in late 1882, and eventually the device was replaced in a newer style canceler. This device was isued circa 1868, the font gives it away as one of the first rotating date wheel cancelers made by Güller.
The card was mailed in Bürglen which is 2.6km from Altdorf the closest accounting post office and date stamped there.
Since airbornestamps mentioned Bartholdi, here is my Day 7 offering that links to that.
This letter was sent in the early 1870s from Bartholdi to General Hector Tyndale. You can determine the sender of this envelope by the preprinted design on the back of the envelope. The tree shaped design in a purplish color was Bartholdi's brand. The note to send a photograph could have to do with any number of things, including the possibility that Tyndale was securing Bartholdi's services for a sculpting project. Or, if a person were hopeful, it could have had something to do with some of the discussion regarding what would later become the Statue of Liberty.
Have a good day all.
Rob
Well, we're entering our second week of the "Cover A Day" challenge, and I've been enjoying what others are sharing! Lots of variety being shown. Anyone can join in the fun as often or as little as you would like. Share one cover per day and give us a little explanation if you are willing. Or, just share a piece of postal history.
Here is my Day 8 offering.
This one is pretty new to me, so I need to do more research. The Staten Island quarantine at Tompkinsville was, I thought, shut down at this time after the community burned down much of the naval hospital compound because they felt the presence of the quarantine was dangerous for their own health. That would have been in 1858 and this appears to be an 1864 letter bearing this printed design. There is enough potential story here that I think I will enjoy researching this one.
Rob
3 August 1871
Uprated postal stationery for domestic rate of 10 centimes. The cross at the bottom of the canceller is exactly what fell out of the Altdorf device above. Notice the envelope indicia was not canceled with the date stamp. The Swiss had determined that reusing the envelope was not practical, therefore, clerks only had to place one date stamp on the cover, unless in this case there was a stamp added. The rule was - every stamp must have an individual date stamp and a one clear legible date stamp else
Usage of high denomination stamps almost always involve overfranked philatelic covers. Although not technically a cover (but it did serve as a "cover" for merchandize), I thought I would display a piece of a linen wrapper from June 7, 1934 which includes a parcel post customs label form identifying the contents. Six pence, one shilling and five shillings denominations were used to ship a 14.5 pound tortise shell from the Cayman Islands to London. The sender, A.S. Rutty, was the Cayman Brac postmaster, so the franking is presumably correct. It would appear that Mr. Rutty had a side hustle selling marine souvenirs. Unfortunately, the wrapper did not come with contents.
It was enjoyable to see more items posted yesterday, keep them coming!
Day 9 opens with an envelope glued to a larger envelope.
The postage (15 sen) tells us this was a triple weight letter sent from Japan to the United States (Iowa). Mailed in 1894, there was a regular schedule of mail steamships traveling between Japan and San Francisco. Stops often included Hawai'i and other points in Southeast Asia. If you would like to read more about this particular item, I did more write up here.
