Cover of the Day

That looks like an American Indian on the right of that stamp.

 

One more thing I didnt know.

 

Learn something new every day. Thanks.

 

Time to resurrect this thread with a recent cover acquisition featuring four collecting points:

1. Stamp dealer's cover

2. Stamp show cinderella on cover calling attention to a forthcoming philatelic exhibition.

3. Nice clear slogan cancel. The Prey for Peace cancel was used nationally for many years during the Cold War.

4. Franked with a contemporary stamp commemorating the 250th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth.

Don

 

Fantastic cover Don!

 

Thanks, Hochstrasse.

Don

 

Good to see you back on the forum Zee!

 

Amen to that!

Don

 

Here is the first of a couple of new cover acquisitions from eBay. I have mentioned before that I don't collect first-day covers, but the reality is that I do in a limited way. I find it difficult to pass buying interesting first-days used commercially. This cover posted by the Kimble Glass Company to a person at the pharmaceutical firm of Merck, Sharp, & Dohme, is a 1st day of issue for the stamp commemorating the opening of the first fully automated post office in the U.S. at Providence, Rhode Island, Sc. 1164. The cancel includes the logo of the U.S. Postal Department. As an added feature, the cover also includes a copy of the 1960 stamp commemorating the Pony Express, Sc. 1154, first issued on July 19, 1960. The cover is not faded, but rather is made of two-tone light brown and tan paper.

I suspect the idea for making up these covers originates in the marketing departments, but I am also convinced that somewhere in the company's organizational structure there is one or more stamp collectors who have enough authority to authorize the preparation and use of these first-day covers. Most of the commercial first-days I have seen use a stamp that is somehow tied to the company's products or mission. I don't see any connection with this one which leads me to believe there was, indeed, a collector somewhere in the firm's hierarchy.

One of the downsides of collecting commercial first-days is they are usually opened by non-collectors and bear witness to rough opening as does this one with its tears above and to the left of the cancel dial, the crushed corners, and a couple of wrinkles. Another downside is the almost exclusive use of #10 envelopes, and traditional first-day cover collectors don't like the larger business envelopes.

Don

 

Here is the prize, in my opinion, of my recent eBay 1st-day cover purchase. It is a first day prepared and mailed by the Texas Refinery Corporation then headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. As the reverse testifies, the company also had a presence in Mexico City, which perhaps, influenced utilizing the U.S. joint issue stamp commemorating Mexico's independence. This cover has several collecting points,

1. a very colorful cachet featuring Percy, the fictional and somewhat ghostly looking company salesman:

2. it is an airmail cover, hence the two 4c stamps which overpaid the then current airmail rate by 1c:

3. the stamp commemorating Mexico's independence is supported by the use of Spanish language on the cover:

4. the cancel includes an image of Mexico's national seal:

5. the reverse of the cover continues the Mexican theme on the front: and

6. It includes the original contents which is a sales pep talk offering cash rewards for increase sales of lubricants.

The only thing lacking from my perspective is the joint issue Mexican independence stamp issued a day earlier on September 15th, 1960, Mexico, Sc. 910.

I find this cover with its liberal use of Spanish and promotion of Mexican independence somewhat ironic vis-a-vis the current anti-illegal immigrant sentiment in the U.S. The sombrero, guitar, serape, and burro art work might also be considered too non-politically correct for usage today. All in all, though, a super cover for my commercial first-days collection.

The Texas Refinery Company did a few other commercial first days, but I have not seen any of them for sale.

Does anyone else have commercial usage first-day covers?

Don

 

Am I wrong, or the building on the first cover is the same as on the second stamp of the same cover!?

 

Hello Don!

Nice covers!

 

Makanudo:

You are correct.

Don

 

Back in 1938 the U.S. Post Office Department celebrated the 20th anniversary of air mail service in the U.S. in a big way. The POD declare the week of May 15 to May 21, 1938 as National Air Mail Week (NAMW) and promoted an expansion of air mail usage. May 19th was national pick-up day and the publisher of a National Air Mail Week catalog estimated that more than 8,000 towns participated.

Most of those towns prepared a special cachet for the event and it is those cacheted covers that have made National Air Mail Week covers a substantial collecting sub-group. Also, most of the towns with airports in the U.S. did not have scheduled air service in1938, but the organization of NAMW solved that by designating specific airports within a state as pick-up points on May 19th, 1938. Smaller towns, even those without an airport would post their covers on May 19th and they would be collected and sent to a designated airport for pick-up. Then a pilot (mostly volunteers) would fly the collected NAMW covers to a larger airport within the state for air mail service to the addressed destination point on the covers. Note in the cover below the cachet includes a statement "Wilbert flyies the mail ... ." The man standing by the airplane is probably Wilbert and it was his airplane that flew the collected NAMW covers to the larger airport with air mail service. The POD also issued a special stamp for the event, Scott C23, first issued on May 14, 1938, the day before Air Mail Week began.

I have limited my NAMW cover collecting to my native state (Iowa) and to covers depicting an aircraft on it usually as part of the cachet. I will be posting some of my NAMW covers from time to time, especially those depicting aircraft as part of the theme.

At first glace, this cover appears to be a commercial usage on national pick-up day (May 19th, 1938), but lacks a return address and, therefore, is likely philatelic in nature. It, however, is a prize for my collection because of the real photograph of a Fairchild 24 aircraft in the cachet. The Fairchild was a popular private aircraft during the 1930s that came with a variety of seating and engine configurations. The one depicted is probably the deluxe Model 24K with four seats and a Ranger six cylinder in-line engine. The cover is franked with Sc. C23 first issued specifically for NAMW.

Don

 

Don,

I love the print of the cover.
The story is even better!