Nice cover as usual, but I don't understand the Mary's Baby reference. Thanks for the season's greetings. Don
I found an Ezra D. Cole for my stamp dealer covers collection. Not a very interesting piece, but it fills a space. It is also from his Nyack location after he departed Nassau Street. So…still looking for one from that earlier time. But at least it is a dealer-to-dealer cover. A brief bio on Mr Cole is here: http://www.americanstampdealer.com/SubMenu/Ezra_D_Cole.aspx?id=248 I wonder if Hudson Stamp Company is also Ezra Cole? Does anyone have his address in Nyack, NY? An attractive, if contemporary cover, for the Tribune Stamp Company, F. J. Parker. I am not finding much about him save this: https://www.herrickstamp.com/news_detail.php?ns=33 (third paragraph)… …Indicating he later moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan and ran a mail-order business. I imagine rents on Nassau Street went up after the war and forced some dealers to relocate? A J C van Loon shows several scientific books published in the 1980s-1990s. Perhaps a son: https://www.amazon.com/J.-C.-Van-Loon/e/B001HPXB9O Finding the ‘home run’ cover is difficult, well-known dealer + attractive cover + Nassau Street. A well-known addressee is always a nice bonus. I am also looking for covers of famous collectors and philatelic authors; NOT much too luck on those to this date. Feliz Navidad Prospero Ano y Felicidad
Molokai: One doesn't seem many #10 embossed Bicentennial commemorative covers used commercially, even from stamp dealers. According to the 1935 BLUE BOOK OF PHILATELY, Ezra Cole lived at 29 Division Avenue, Nyack, N.Y. I like the Tribune Stamp Co., cover. As people would still say, even in the late 1940's, "It's a swell cover." Don
Thanks for the info, Don! 'Swell' was a common description 'back in the day.' Replaced by 'cool' and 'groovy' not sure what is used today; not sure I want to know. I like how the embossed stamp matched his address colour - I suspect Ezra thought that when he had them printed?
Among the sub-topics I collect are Keep 'em Flying covers. It was a popular slogan seen during WWII. This one also fits another of my collecting interests, Stamp Dealers covers. It is a Herman Herst, Jr., cover from when he was still at 116 Nassau Street. It is addressed to Austin Howard Murchison whose Blue Book of Philately entry lists him as a stamp dealer specializing in Indian Territory materials. Don
Not Nassau Street or even New York but a pretty cover to Hawaii. I can't make out the addressee. For exercise, I will try to ID the 3rd Bureau stamps - unless someone already knows. The date appears to be May 31, 1919.
Chicago, plus St. Louis were other U.S. centers of the stamp trade. Lots of stamps sold out of Chicago during the first half of the 20th century. Nice cover. Don
Here's a follow-up cover to Molokai's Chicago offering. Not as early, but from one of Chicago's old-line dealers of the 30's, 40s, and maybe into the 1950s. I am not sure how long Adolph Gunesch was in business. Precancels were his specialty. Thay had a very large following when precancels were used regularly by the large mail order companies like Sears, Roebuck, Montgomery Wards, Spiegels, Aldens, and smaller businesses even in the small towns of America. Guensch also published a handbook on U.S. Bureau and local precanels. It was the place to go to order precancels by mail. I, unfortunately, have no info on this addressee. Don
I recall precancels being quite popular in the 1960s. Certainly a worthy speciality. I never tried my hand at them but did play with perfins a bit. Here's something on Adolph Gunesch:http://www.americanstampdealer.com/SubMenu/Adolph_Gunesch.aspx?id=263 Apparently, his books are rare as hens' teeth...
I gave precancels a try back in the 1990s. A multitude of varieties to collect on a multitude of stamps -- double-line electros (probably my favorite), bureaus (one of the easier areas to collect, in my opinion), locals, (a huge field), precancels on commemoratives (supposedly commems were not to be precanceled, but were), and then there are the face-different stamps to collect, different stamp series, perf varieties, double impressions, impressions reading up & down, & inverts. Lots of "close work" involved, more than I wanted so I moved on from precancels. Sold some of the better ones, but still have an album partially filled. Here are a couple of pages I did on the first page maker software I used with a dot-matrix printer. I thought it was great at the time. Don First page is double line electros, on the 1922 definitive series, perf 11s, style 242, from Newark, NJ. The second set is from my Iowa Bureau collection. One of my more complete efforts. This from Davenport, style 61 on Prexies and the Nat'l Defense issues, followed by a page of style 71s. The difference between the styles is the distance between the bars of the cancel. As I said, close work.
Awesome work, DonSellos! I actually didn't know there were so many paths within precancels...but, that's philately! Beautiful pages from a dot matrix printer, also. Who can forget tracker feeds?
Molokai: Very nice item! C. H. Mekeel was the founder of Mekeel's Weekly Stamp News, which, I believe, is still being published. You may have already seen this, but it is a link to some biographical info re: Mekeel. http://www.americanstampdealer.com/SubMenu/Charles_Haviland_Mekeel.aspx?id=451 Don
Here's a stamp dealers cover from the S.F. bay area in the late 1940s. It's a little different in that it employs an illustration instead of a corner address. I've written this cover up for my Stamp Dealers cover album so I'll show the whole page rather than repeat the bio info that I found about this dealer. Don
Very, very nice! I suppose I should start an album with my Stamp Dealer covers...but it looks like real work, LOL. As of now, I index them, toss them in a boot box. All my stuff is in shoe or boot boxes. I am reminded of the story in Nassau Street about the dealer who had everything in boxes and used a rope-and-pulley system with them. When he wanted 'Italian States' he looked up towards the ceiling for the appropriate box, released the rope and - Walla! - down came Italian States.
Molokai: Shoe boxes have served many generations of stamp collectors well! In fact, most of my covers are still in shoe boxes. You mention the work element for mounting on pages. For me it is certainly the case. For some reason, mounting and writing up covers is more of a chore than just mounting stamps on pages. Right now I have a four inch pile of cover acquisitions awaiting mounting and describing. I can usually do about four once I start, but overcoming the inertia to staart is not easy. Don
Inertia...yes, I have lots of that for sure. I am going to poke around the internet for album-making software. Any suggestions thereof? Or, perhaps I should just use the rope-and-pulley idea. Someone wants to see a collection, they point to it and I drop the box in their lap! Oops, I pulled 'Second Bureau' by mistake and knocked them out cold.
