Solo American Indian cover shows fast mail service
Last week, a new addition to my 14¢ American Indian collection arrived in my post office box: a solo use example of the stamp on a special delivery cover mailed from Yonkers, New York, to East Cleveland, Ohio, in 1934.
14¢ American Indian special cover mailed from Yonkers, New York
Although the stamp overpaid the applicable postage rate by 1¢, I see no evidence that this envelope represents anything other than commercial usage of the stamp.
What’s most interesting about this cover to me is it was postmarked in Yonkers on one day and arrived in East Cleveland by 7 a.m. the next day! You’d be hard-pressed to get that sort of service today, and it would cost a whole lot more.
Seven Purgatory Post stamps released since early July
I have been rather on the tardy side in mentioning the latest local post stamps from New Hampshire’s Purgatory Post, and as a result, I have a whole stack of new issues that have been released since the beginning of July to share.
First up are stamps commemorating the 250th anniversaries of the Quartering Act, which the British Parliament passed to authorize the housing of British soldiers in unoccupied buildings in the American colonies, and the Quebec Act, which authorized the expansion of Quebec into what are now parts of half a dozen states in the United States of America. The stamps are denominated 3-sola and 4-sola, respectively, and were issued July 2.
Purgatory Post Quartering Act & Quebec Act stamps
Another recent Purgatory Post stamp continues the same series—but we’ll get to that in just a moment.
Next up are a pair of 8-sola stamps issued August 8 to honor American astronauts Bill Anders (1933–2024) and Tom Stafford (1930–2024). Stafford flew on Germini 6, Germini 9, Apollo 10, and on the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975, while Anders was on board Apollo 8 and captured the famous “earthrise” photograph.
Purgatory Post Bill Anders & Tom Stafford stamps
On August 20, Purgatory Post released the latest in its series of stamps picturing famous New Hampshire steamships. The 5-sola design in red and black pictures Mount Washington, which traversed the waters of Lake Winnipesaukee from its 1872 launch until it was destroyed by fire near the end of 1939.
Purgatory Post Mount Washington stamp
The Mount Washington stamp was quickly followed by an August 30 release picturing the Meriden covered bridge in New Hampshire. The 80-foot-long bridge cost approximately $700 to build in 1880; Hurricane Carol damaged the structure in 1955, but the citizens of Plainfield decided the next year to pay to repair the bridge. This 24-sola stamp is the latest in a long line of covered bridge stamps issued by Purgatory Post.
Purgatory Post Meriden Bridge stamp
Finally, we come to the most recent Purgatory Post issue, which is part of the same series with which I started this entry. Issued September 5, this stamp commemorates the 250th anniversary of the First Continental Congress. In my opinion, the design is far more interesting than that issued by the United States Postal Service to commemorate the same event.
Purgatory Post Continental Congress stamp
And with that, you’re up to speed on all the latest stamps from Purgatory Post. Scott A. has been very productive this summer, and I’m sure we’ll see additional new stamps from his operation before long.
While I’ve never really gone out of my way to acquire first day covers (other than those included in my 14¢ American Indian collection), a few have made their way to me over the years. The most recent came courtesy of longtime reader Kenneth M., who had a FDC bearing the Loggerhead Sea Turtle stamp issued in June sent my way. The stamp was issued in Corpus Christi, which is a couple of hours down the road from me.
Loggerhead Sea Turtle Forever stamp on first day cover
In addition to the sea turtle stamp, the cover has a printed impression of a 2¢ George Washington stamp from the third Bureau issue. This was neither valid nor required to pay postage, of course—the Forever stamp took care of that—but it did make the envelope stand out in my post office box! Receiving the cover was a nice surprise.
As far as the first day postmark goes, it seems on the heavy side to me. The stamp itself is already dark, and planting a big dark blob on top of it doesn’t do it much good. That’s not Kenneth’s fault, of course, just an observation regarding how the stamp was canceled.
Three charities distribute new business reply envelopes
I’ve spent a lot of my “stamp time” over the past two or three months working on my landscape stamp album pages, but with that project just about wrapped up (more on that at a later date), it’s time to work through the interesting material that has been sitting in my mail tray for weeks or months on end. Today, the focus is on new business reply envelopes bearing stamp-like preprinted images.
We’ll kick things off with this envelope that arrived in a mailing from The Alzheimer’s Disease Fund. The roughly stamp-sized images picture a hiker standing on a rocky outcropping in the mountains, the U.S. Capitol, a head comprised of gears, and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
National Police Association business reply envelope with America-themed images
If you think that man in the mountains looks vaguely familiar, you’re right. Exactly the same image was used on the BRE enclosed in a National Police Association mailing that I mentioned back in July! I’m not aware of any connection between the two organizations, but I presume they must be using the same outfit to prepare their mailings, and that outfit is apparently reusing some of their graphics.
Next up is an envelope that came from the American Parkinson Disease Association. It features three copies of a design picturing yellow flowers on a blue background--two oriented vertically and the other horizontally—that I originally saw used on an envelope in conjunction with other designs over the summer. At that time, I thought perhaps the magenta ink had been exhausted when that envelope was printed, but this example makes it seem as though the light color scheme was intentional.
National Police Association business reply envelope with flower images
Finally, we conclude this batch of BREs with two different examples that were enclosed in mailings from Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. One of the envelopes has three copies of an image picturing a yellow rose, while the other envelope has three copies of a stamp-sized photograph of a yellow flower.
Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch business reply envelope with rose imagesCal Farley’s Boys Ranch business reply envelope with flower images
And that brings us up to speed on business reply envelopes. I have more things to write about, but that will have to wait until next time.
High temperatures seem to be declining slightly here in South Texas. It’s still hot, mind you—highs are still in the 90s here—but there’s at least a thought that autumn is on the way.
The United States Postal Service has been exceptionally busy when it comes to issuing new stamps over the past three months, and while I haven’t seen any of them show up on my incoming mail just yet, that seems likely to happen sooner or later. With that in mind, the Fall 2024 Supplement (138 KB, 2 files, 16 pages) for The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album is now available for you to download and print at your convenience. It includes spaces for all United States postage stamps issued from June through August along with a space for this year’s duck stamp.
If you spot any errors in this update, please let me know so I can correct them. Thank you for your continued support and for your interest in The Philosateleian!
