I checked my post office box on Friday for the first time in over a week, and it was pretty well packed with everything from cards and letters to non-profit solicitations. Among the items was the January–February 2021 issue of The Philatex, the San Antonio Philatelic Association’s newsletter.
At first glance, I thought postage on the envelope had been short-paid with just a pair of stamps, but then I realized that the remnants of a third stamp still adhered to the right of the others.
San Antonio Philatelic Association cover with scraped 22¢ stamp22¢ United States stamp with scraped surface
It’s not unusual to see surface scrapes on stamps with water-activated gum that have been used in recent years, but this is excessive! There’s nothing left except “USA,” the 22¢ denomination, and a tiny piece of the lower right corner of the stamp’s design.
My initial guess at which stamp this is was wrong, but it didn’t take me long to track it down once I cracked open my Scott Specialized Catalogue. Can you identify it?
I realize that I talk quite a bit about how scarce solo uses of the 14¢ American Indian stamp on cover really are, particularly those that are commercial in nature, yet here I am sharing another new addition to my collection: my third solo cover in the past three months.
This particular envelope was mailed from the National Sugar Refining Company of New Jersey, headquartered in New York City, to New Haven, Connecticut, in December 1923, just a few months after the American Indian stamp was issued.
14¢ American Indian cover mailed from the National Sugar Refining Company of New Jersey
As I explain in my write-up about the cover, the 14¢ postage paid for two ounces at 2¢ per ounce, plus 10¢ for registration.
It has long seemed to me that of the various potential solo uses of the American Indian stamp, a double-weight registered cover would have been about the most common even though the 14¢ rate for such a cover was only in effect for the first couple of years of the stamp’s use, but it wasn’t until my last few acquisitions that I started seeing a definite trend to support that. Of the six apparent commercial solo uses of this stamp in my collection, three of them are double-weight registered envelopes.
2020 annual supplement available for The Philosateleian
As you’re probably aware if you’ve been using The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album for any time at all, I release updated album pages four times a year, with spaces for stamps from long-running sets getting grouped with other stamps from the same series. I prefer to have pages ready for new stamps within a few months of when those stamps are issued, and to keep sets together as much as possible, even if that does mean having to reprint a few pages from time to time.
Not everyone feels the same way, of course, and for each of the past several years, I’ve also released an annual update. This includes my regular pages for a particular year plus a page or pages containing spaces for stamps that fit into earlier sets. With that in mind, I’ve released my 2020 annual supplement for The Philosateleian, which you can download at your convenience from the Annual section on my list of individual stamp album pages.
If you follow the recommended quarterly update track, you don’t need to download this update, but if you print new pages only once a year, it’s for you.
2020 second busiest year on record for Philosateleian Post
Philosateleian Post set a new record in 2019 for pieces of mail transported in a single year. Although the numbers dropped by about 10% in 2020, the 441 envelopes, letters, and packages I transported still accounted for the second-highest total in Philosateleian Post’s history.
While it would be easy to blame COVID-19 for the drop in volume, I don’t think that’s all there is to it. I sent 20% more letters and cards in 2019 than in 2020, many of which were responses to sympathy notes that I received following my mom’s death. I think it’s safe to say I didn’t receive nearly as many personal notes last year, which means I didn’t reply to as much mail.
Regardless, 2020 was Philosateleian Post’s second consecutive year with more than 400 pieces of mail carried, the first time that has ever happened, and I hope I can at least keep up that rate this year!
14¢ American Indian cover mailed from Honolulu, Hawaii, to Berlin, Germany
As I imagine you’re aware, examples of the 14¢ American Indian stamp used by itself are few and far between. 14¢ simply wasn’t a common postage rate during the time the stamp was in use, and it took me a bit of time to track down exactly why that particular rate applied in this case. I did, however, eventually find the answer in U.S. International Postal Rates, 1872–1996 by Harry Beecher and Anthony Wawrukiewicz.
Beginning in 1934, the rate for a one-ounce leetter by air within the continental United States plus surface transportation to international destinations was 8¢. That amount paid for surface transportation from Hawaii, which was still a territory at that time, to the mainland; airmail across the United States to New York City; and then surface transportation again from New York to Europe.
From there, a 3¢ per half ounce surcharge was in effect for letters carried by air from France to other points within Europe. Multiply that by two for a letter weighing between a half ounce and one ounce, and you get 6¢, the remaining amount of postage paid.
In summary, 8¢ postage paid for transportation by ship from Hawaii to the mainland United States, by airplane across the country, and by ship from New York to France, and 6¢ paid for transportation by airplane from France to Germany. This is really an exceptional usage of the stamp.
