The only reason I can think of is - it's Tin Can Mail.... Um... But, it really doesn't fit with anything else I do. Sadly, most of the things that meet the criteria of the topic I don't usually bother to scan...
Here’s something I happened to spot purely by accident in the wrong category and bought for perhaps $5. I doubt if it’s worth more than that, and since it never fit in with any collection of mine (my solo prexies are non-philatelic) it has just languished in one drawer or another since I bought it.
One more...
I bought this recently on a whim, mostly because it is so difficult to figure the correct rate for parcel post items, except when they have a good old trusty Sears date added to the precancel. The Item was advertised as being a 1978 item, but the Chicago—El Paso schedule for April ’78 did not allow for a $1.71 rate. I suspected the item might be from 1975, which did have a $1.71 slot, and when I received the item I was proved correct. Ther date is 1975.
Scruffy, torn, sloppily cut out, stamps scraped—but I’ll keep it.
A great start to the meeting, Rob and Jim.
Here's the same Tonga cover, but it was slated to be sold - i.e. wasn't mine to begin with.
Interesting to see that the date on mine is in the U.S. date format.
I do have a Tin Can Mail cover that I won at my friend Hubert's auction. He had received quite a few and was very excited about the number of markings on them, so I bid on them.
As promised, here are some of the stamps in my 1-100 collection. This idea came from a member of my Canberra stamp club. I thought it would be easy, but no, after 16 years I still have holes.
In 2016 I displayed the stamps with others to form a maze, at my local library.
After pulling the maze apart, I have now challenged myself to collect 3 of each, and no Christmas stamps where possible. It would be nice to say one day “no definitives” but they are the mainstay of my hard to get numbers, especially with the Machins and Canada’s and US definitives.
Here is something I picked up several years ago and I can't even remember what possessed me to pick it up. Certainly has WWI connections and I seem to recall doing a little research on it at some point in time. I just can't recall what I learned and haven't taken the time to find my notes (if I made any).
It's a registered item that went on a merry chase and even has interesting aux markings.
I do seem to recall that the 306th was part of the Lost Battalion in the Argonne. That may have been my reason for picking it up?
Sometime I buy things to flesh out a one-page exhibit. For instance, my page on the Kaiser's yacht was improved by adding a postcard of the yacht and which had a cameo of the Kaiser on it. I also bought two mint copies of German colonies stamps depicting the yacht. Without these things, the page would look rather drab.
Thank you, Rob and Jim, for posting. It is interesting to see why we acquire things.
I didn't get to post how I collect Oregon postmarks by county, nor my cover collection with multiples of the same stamp, nor my international postmarks on piece (pref old piece) collection (including a US town meter for each date), and inwards correspondence by state.
However, these collections have made me more aware of modern US and older European stamps.
We won't even mention my Austria postmark collection, except to say that it has made for a good one-page exhibit on the Austro-Hungarian empire for our Dead Countries club exhibit.
Sheryll
