Collecting covers from stamp dealers is one of my sidelines. Here's one of my favorites from the 1930s, an Elmer Long cover. Most everyone who read Stamps magazine in the 1930s and 1940s knew of Elmer Long. He was a well-known dealer who sold $1.00 packets of U.S. stamps/covers, Christmas seals, cinderellas and stamp collecting accessories. Beginning in the 1930s, he used cartoon art in his ads and settled on the art of John Coulthard almost exclusively. The small, spotted dog seen in the ad on this cover was a Coulthard signature character. The cover shown with its semi-mute cancel is from 1939 and carried the pictured 1939 Collector's Handbook which Long sent to regular customers and anyone asking for one. The Handbook also features John Coulthard's art on the cover and within. Don
The cartoon art is vaguely familiar, it seems as though I've seen that postal carrier before. Anyway it takes me back to my childhood. Thanks Don!
