Here's an interesting cover. It's the tiniest mourning cover I have seen. It measures 2 3/16 inches high and 5 1/8 inches long. I've had it for quite some time, I don't believe I paid much more than a dollar to two for it.
This is a commercial advertising cover from the Table & Ticket Company of Chicago, Illinois posted in 1938. Table & Ticket is still doing business and specializes in directories, display cases and kiosks. It was founded in 1867. I collected the cover, however, not for its corner card, but for the unusual meter slug announcing the Silver Jubilee of Parcel Post, 1913-1938. Not something I would expect to find on the envelope of a company that produces custom display media. I was surprised to see it and glad to add it to my cover collection. DonSellos
I have been writing up covers for my Iowa Railway Post Offices collection and just finished this one posted on the Minneapolis & Des Moines, RPO addressed to the St. Paul Casket Company. One sees these covers on eBay from time to time and I decided to look into the addressee. Turned out that St. Paul Casket was a longstanding company in St Paul dating back to the 19th century. It appears to have gone out of business in 1950. Of ongoing interest, however, is company's building at 1222 University Avenue, St. Paul, MN. It is still standing and is currently being renovated for apartments and/or condominiums and has been placed on the national register of historic buildings. Here's an internet image of its building ca the 1950s. Of more philatelic interest is the hand written "Zone 4" as part of the address. The Post Office Department inaugurated the Zone System for distribution of mail in 1943 to facilitate mail distribution for new hires replacing postal clerks drafted or volunteering for military service during WW II. St. Paul Casket apparently had printed up a bunch of reply envelopes and was adding the zone numbers by hand until its supply was exhausted. My guess is this cover carried an order from a traveling salesman, or possibly payment of an invoice. The RPO cancel is exceptionally clear making it a good addition to my collection. The franking is contemporary to the cover. It is Sc. 922, the 3 cents stamp commemorating the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad issued in May 1944. The Minneapolis & Des Moines RPO was discontinued on February 19, 1961. DonSellos
Great cover Don! I have quite a few covers and stamps, but outside of one German stamp with a railroad cancel I don't have an RPO cover or anything like this. This is just another of many things I will be looking for when things here return to normal and the stamp shows return.
I bought this Husbands Protective Association cover as a curiosity to add to my Novelty Covers collection. A New Jersey business registration link on the internet indicated the association was formed in 1954, but did not list the type of business. I suspect, though, it may have had something to do with the rights of divorced husbands. The cover also has a curious meter slug "Remember Your Friends." I'm not sure how that relates without knowing the business of the association. Until I find out the business scope of the association, it's headed for the Novelty Covers collection. Anyone recognize it, or better yet have belonged to it in the past? DonSellos
Hi Don, Like you I couldn't find anything about this group. The address turned up a large multi-story apartment building being built in 1953 and the postage rate of 2c doesn't really match with the 1950's. Perhaps the group existed well before the registration date?
A cover from a furs dealer in Vancouver, British Columbia, to a potential customer in Port Alice, BC., and subsequently returned as undeliverable. I collected it primarily for the illustration of the bear. Not many bear topicalists that I have found. Apparently, not a popular animal for stamp collectors. The cover does have a couple of philatelic points, however. There are two return to sender stamps and I assume that the 1/2 on the right side indicates the number of attempts at delivery. I love the one word explanation, bottom center, "Gone." The cover is also Canadian postal stationery, the first piece I have. Unfortunately, I have no catalog to identify it. DonSellos
I bought this cover for its colorful cachet, which turns out to be the logo for Circus City Festival, Inc.. Started in 1960, the festival held in Peru, Indiana, is still going strong with the 2021 event scheduled for July 17-24. Festival week offers a series of circus acts by performers ranging in age groups from "kiddie" to adults. Peru, also boasts a circus museum open April through September. The city has been the wintering site for circuses since the 19th century. Peru is in north-central Indiana about 80 miles northeast of Indianapolis. Don Sellos
This cover from the First National Bank of Arizona, Phoenix, advertises the annual Fiesta del Sol in 1937. I bought it for the illustrated corner card. It is doubly interesting to me because of its addressee, Fred A. Spielman. He has an entry in the 1938 Blue Book of Philately and was a stamp dealer in Fairfield, Iowa, for many years. I would like to know what was in this cover or what was his connection to the First National Bank of Arizona. Perhaps, it carried a credit reference for an approval applicant?? It is my understanding dealers used to check those, especially if the applicant wanted higher priced stamps. The cover is franked, in part, with the then very current Virginia Dare stamp commemorating the first child born to English parents in America, Sc. 796, issued August 18th, 1937. DonSellos
Hi Don, I have to wonder about the Virginia Dare stamp you mentioned. A 5c and a 1c stamp is twice the first class rate of the time. Perhaps the envelope contained more than a credit reference? Could it perhaps have been a bank check or something else that required special services?
The semi-mute meter imprint and lack of return address leave the date and source of this cover unknown. However, its low postage amount and facsimile stamps and cancel suggest that it carried advertising, perhaps, for some type of travel destination. I collected it solely for the stamp and cancel images printed on the cover. DonSellos
The Journal American, the sender of this cover, was an evening newspaper published daily in New York City from 1937 to 1966. It maintained a close philatelic association that included preparing and mailing first day covers as an advertising medium, along with a stamps column and actively seeking philatelic advertising from stamp shops. This cover is addressed to a stamp dealer and may have carried ad copy or an invoice for advertising. Its collecting points are the illustrated meter imprint for the paper's Want Ads section and the use of an American Stamp Dealers Association advance label for the ASDA's 1949 show. The cover will fit into my Cinderellas on Covers collection. Don Sellos
