Hi Don, I love the cover, but what strikes me the most is the insert advertising for a 137 page U.S. stamp album for $1.10.
A dollar was worth a lot in the mid-1930s. Surely would have seemed like a lot of money to the average stamp collector. What always amazes me is how dealers could make a living charging 7 & 9 cents for covers featuring the 1 and 3 cents Century of Progress stamps. Don
Hi Don, I suppose you're right at a minimum wage of 25c a $1.10 represented a significant amount money back then. Every now and again I look up what a gallon of milk, a loaf of bread or gallon of gas cost at some specific year and reflect upon it. How cover dealers made any money on such a slim margin is a very good question? They either loved the hobby as many still do today or they had a very large volume.
A roughly opened cover from Kenmore Stamp Company, an old-line approval dealer. It appears that Kenmore was offering a copy of France, Sc. 730, the 12 francs stamp commemorating the Legion of Honor, a military decoration, as a premium to approval customers. The semi-mute meter imprint leaves the cover undated. The French stamp was issued in 1954, so the cover would have been posted after that, maybe late 1950s or early 1960s. Don Sellos
Another newly acquired stamp dealer's cover, this one from Frank Warner, 109 Nassau Street. it has an added collecting point of an American Stamp Dealer's Association advance label for the 7th ASDA stamp show. A decent Nassau Street cover, but I wish the corner card advertisement were printed and the advance label tied. Don Sellos
Two interesting-to-me Herman Herst covers I recently purchased. If you’ve read Nassau Street you will know Herst was not a big FDR fan. So, receiving a letter with a large portrait of same must have elicited an interesting response. The other cover, from I think his first or second overseas trip shows he had enough correspondence to invest in a rubber stamp.
An early cover from the peripatetic Bartels. I do not own this one; it is on eBay with a price out of my budget. This makes five (or six?) addresses for him.
Hi Molokai, Good to see you posting again. I like the parade of Bartels covers coming from the 5 addresses. I found a cover from Washington D.C. circa 1898 from a Siegel Auction you might find interesting. Not only is it a first day cover it appears to be a twin mailing from another cover that appears unidentified as a Bartel cover. We know it is because of the addressee and registration sequence. The story on the virtual stamp club link is interesting, perhaps you are familiar with it? https://siegelauctions.com/2018/1188/99.pdf http://www.virtualstampclub.com/king_fdc.html
View attachment 14504 [/QUOTE] I was quite surprised to learn,that the US were included in the tariff-zone of the postage rates for mail within the British Empire.
Doubtful. Hanover, Kansas, has a population of about 650 souls in 2018. Surely, O,K. Stamps was a short-lived mail order venture. Nice cover, though, with its clearly struck Railway Post Office cancel, Columbian franking, and catchy name. Don
Hi @Molokai Very nice Herst covers! Is there a return address on the reverse indicating who might have sent that cover to him? The cachet looks like a left over from the FDR Memorial Issue of 1945-1946, Sc. 930-933. Also a nice NYC post office station cancel. Don
I was happy to get this cover. Interesting in-and-of itself for the stamps and markings. Percy Doane was of course a well-know dealer and author. Oscar A. Schenck was a well-known collector. His stamps were sold at a multi-part auction in 1951 by Harmer, Rooke. The Tribune building was at the corner of Nassau and Spruce streets; officially 154 Printing House Square. Close enough to call it an NS cover for me! The building itself had an interesting history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Tribune_Building
Hi Molokai, With 90 feet of frontage on Nassau Street it's definitely close enough. Interesting article and a noteworthy building. I'm conflicted about whether the replacement 1 Pace Plaza is an improvement or not.
Two new-to-me Nassau Street dealers. One with the insert. Herman Herst said that at any one time there were 40-50 dealers in the 116 building. Given turnover (probably high) I am guesstimating over the years 200 dealers made 116 their home. So...despite collecting NS covers for five years now I am surely missing many, many dealers.
A recent acquisition this cover from the Association for Stamp Exhibitions headquartered at 70 Nassau Street, New York City, with John A. Klemann as secretary. I believe this is the same Klemann who was the proprietor of Nassau Street Stamps at 68 Nassau Street. The cover has the added collecting point of being addressed to Max Johl, noted U.S. collector and author of U.S. Postage Stamps of the Twentieth Century and U.S. Commemorative Postage Stamps of the Twentieth Century. The Association for Stamp Exhibitions is on the American Stamp Dealers Assoc., list of Nassau Street tenants, but at 68 Nassau Street, the same office number as Klemann's shop. This cover, however, surely predates the ASDA list. It appears that the Association lasted until 1979 when the state of New York listed the corporation as "dissolved." Don Sellos
Dealer-to-dealer. Both Brazer and Perry were well-known philatelic writers and researchers. Perry's Pat Para-Graphs is considered a classic on U.S. stamp topics. Published as a newsletter originally, now available in book format - a $20 bargain, IMHO.
