Ok, well, I will start the ball rolling with my collecting interest of the New Hebrides.
I ended up collecting this country because:
it was a dead country (no need to collect new issues), although there is the trap of collecting Vanuatu, which is what it is called after becoming independent in 1980.
the first issues were affordable (i.e. not thousands of dollars)
I had been there (when it was Vanuatu).
An important first acquisition was one of the local stamps found in a circuit book. A bicolor with vignette - I was hooked!
Down the track, once I had met fellow collectors through the internet, I acquired a nice missionary cover from Canada.
And some weird and wonderful French Military Franchise essays. I am at present trying to write these up in an exhibit all its own for SEAPEX in September.
Hi Sheryll—
I was hoping you’d get more responses by now to today’s topic.
I am still collecting non-philatelic, ordinary mail inaugurals. I collect them all—whether of the good, the bad or the ugly (or any combination thereof). Below is a recent addition:
Hi All—
Tangential to the inaugural covers I collect ones (non-philatelic) postmarked on historic dates. December 7, 1941 is hard to find because it fell on a Sunday, when most cancelling devices were not in use. I happened on the item below by pure chance. It was not identified by its date, nor where it was postmarked. Even more surprising is that the original letter is enclosed, a first-hand account describing the hectic activity at the White House and State Department the day of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Thank you for posting, jaywild!
Yes, that sort of stuff is right up my alley. Trouble is I don't seem to be able to find the right dates.
I have encountered covers addressed to famous people, as we have acquired a lot somewhere of Capitol Records correspondence. This one to Susan B Anthony is part of the same consignment, I expect.
I briefly had my hands on one to Sir Winston Churchill addressed to 10 Downing St, but mislaid it before I could check it out, such was the buildup of clutter at that time.
Of course, covers *from* these people would be much more interesting...
Tangential to collecting covere to famous people, I collect covers with multiples of the same stamp. There is some attractiveness to them for me. The Susan B Anthony was an early acquisition.
This airmail cover started it all off. After a series of covers with only one 2c stamp, a cover with 5 must be more important. Yes, the correspondence indicated that after routine letters to her son, the writer was having to deliberate on guaranteeing him a loan for a house.
Sometimes it could appear to be the most efficient way to send a letter (add stamps till rate is reached or exceeded). These can still look nice even if very modern.
Thank you to Jaywild for posting, and for those who looked on from the balcony. Possibly the beautiful weather prevented more of you from posting.
I will close the meeting now, but feel free to add to the topics.
The next meeting will be on 21-23 July and the topic will be "Shortpaid Mail and Postage Due".
Do you have covers that went through the mail shortpaid?
Or with only a piece of selvage (= selvedge in British English) used instead of a stamp?
Show us your unsolved rate problem covers.
Show us your postage due stamps on or off cover.
Help to explain some of the others' stumpers.
Let us know which books to refer to when looking for rates.
Here's a taste... Why was this cover from Italy charged postage due?
Sheryll—
In answer to your question about the Italian postage due cover, I think a stamp boxed in blue pencil indicates it is not valid for postage. This seems to have been caught in Italy—that’s where the “T” was applied (the T is not used in the U.S. to indicate postage due). Since there was no return address the letter went to its addressee who paid the fee.
Why was the stamp unfit to pay postage? I suspect the scribbled line below tells the story. It ends on the ominous note “0. L”, which presumably means “postage paid: zero Lire”. But I can’t read the rest of the line. I give the author a D- for penmanship.
