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The $5 Columbian is one of a series of high value Columbian stamps solo uses on MCs to Germany, all with the same date and address. I have owned the 30-cent and 50-cent for some time now, and know the current location of the $2 and $3 which are not for sale.

Ginny - are you seeing something in Erik's reply that I cannot?
The story of the 2-cent Harding stamp on MC has already been written....by me. Elmer is trying to figure out the best method of publishing it, as its the longest MC article I have ever composed.
Solo uses of the 2-cent black Jack on MC are hard to find. I think I have only one.

Paul,

Apparently. That cover would make anyone's eyes pop! The smiley icon represents shock and awe with eyes a popping. Due to the fact that the cover was staged, I think that diminishes some of shock and awe. Just my opinion, but still a great cover/trophy.

Ginny

Here's one for you:

here's is one of the latest date of 6/14/1982:




The Harding does make a nice looking cover,all black.

Grant

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Some things get better with practice,except for getting up each morning.

I,too, only have the one.

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Some things get better with practice,except for getting up each morning.

In the old, old days, ie. even older than the GOMC ( ) Ontario was called "Upper Canada" and Quebec was "Lower Canada". I don't remember all of my Canadian history class, but I'd assume those names would have come into play after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, the last fight in a war between the British and the French, outside the walls of Quebec City. The British won, and Quebec renounced their colonial claims in now-Canada. I believe both Generals Wolff (for the British) and Montcalm (for the French) died in the battle. You can see them pictured on the 7ct of the 1908 Quebec Tercentenary.

Ontario was considered "upper" as it was 'further up the St. Lawrence River'. The terms "Canada West" and "Canada East" seem to have been used interchangeably with the Upper/Lower. Of course when the Dominion of Canada was created in 1867 with the joining of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia to Canada, the names Ontario and Quebec had to be introduced.

So this cover is cosmopolitan Montreal, C.E., to the "Eastern Townships" which is the rural region between Montreal and Quebec City, centred around Sherbrooke. Really the "heartland" of Quebec I'd say.


Amherst and New Glasgow are both larger towns in Nova Scotia. The latter town name is appropriate enough--Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Pictou County is a wonderfully scenic place.


This last one I couldn't make out the CDS, but see in the img filename its "Greenfield". I can make out the ONT for Ontario on the right stamp's CDS (upside down). Never heard of that town. From google it seems to be a spit of a place that in more modern times has had a major freeway placed right beside it.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Aethelwulf,

Thanks so much for the Canadian history. A Canadian member of MSCC this to say about this cover: The place called "Boscobel" in the 1888 Atlas of Canada is a small town in the County of Shefford in the province of Québec, called Canada East. In 1888 Boscobel even had a post office, but at the time this cover was sent, it is possible that it did not have its own PO and therefore it was delivered to the neighbouring town of Roxton Falls. There are no back stamps.

Ginny

I have never SEEN mourning covers before!!! This has been the most informative, and addictive thread I have read yet! Thankyou so much for showing me something completely new!

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The Phoxy Philatelist- a Whole World collector with a tendancy to lean towards Australian states.

Addictive? Yes, and strangely no-one's been able to develop a rehab programme for death yet.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Here are scans of the 30 and 50 cent Columbians.


The 50 cent stamp is especially well centered.


I probably will never be able to complete the set, but 3 out of 7 is a fairly good percentage.

Beautiful condition of the covers pbmc01, it's hard to find them without the black borders being knocked about a bit and from that date too.

Two new covers for my collection:



front



Back with nice wax seal.

and one from the US, real nice condition and nice stamp dated on the back Oct.11,1880

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Some things get better with practice,except for getting up each morning.

On the American cover I wonder why they have written her initial S and then spelt out her second name (Virginia), that's very unusual haven't seen that done before.

Love the wax seal on the first cover

The writer probably knew her by middle name, because another family member went by the same first name,grandmother or aunt.It happens in some families.

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Some things get better with practice,except for getting up each morning.

Similar to F. Scott Fitzgerald.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

That's right aethelwulf, what's wrong with Francis S. Fitzgerald

Couple of recent additions. The first two are nothing special, just interesting....and cheap.

Parcel post stamps on MC are very difficult to find.


San Francisco local delivery. I like in period docketing when it can date the cover. Nice Station C origin cancel.


1899 US occupation of Puerto Rico before the US stamps were overprinted. This is a really nice find.


Military Station 4 receipt marking on reverse.

Interesting covers. Besides my small collection of, mainly German, army post, I got hold of a small amount of mourning covers too. All covers originate from the same estate from a German WW II war widow.

Most interesting is in fact that many people wrote a message of support on the preprinted mourning cards. I haven't deciphered all of them, but it's interesting to see how some people just use genuine propaganda peptalk of the day - "he was a hero who felt for the Fatherland" - whilst others seem to react more human talking about the pain the loss of a loved one causes. Interesting also, other widows and soldiers woman writing to support eachother emotionally.

Hi Belgian - I have a small sub-collection of WWII German MCs, including the occupied territories. Also a few WWI Belgian MCs franked with the overprinted German stamps. Fascinating area to study.

pbmc01 can you tell me what Station C means and your first cover has Station A on the bottom left, is it railway station?

The letters identify branch post offices in larger cities, to distinguish them from the main post office.

Many thanks.

Another cover recently obtained that fills a hole in the collection thats been vacant for over 20 years. My agent bought it for me at an auction for about half my max bid. It is extremely rare.

Lets have some fun. Why is this cover so special? Everything you need to figure it out is visible.

James C. Furman was the founder of Furman University?

Hold on, that cover looks like it is dated 1861 but James died 1891

James Furman was president of Furman University in 1861, but his father founded the school. The Furman correspondence resides in the University's library archives, but they do not have the letter that originated with this cover - I checked with their head librarian.

The address has nothing to do with the postal history signficance.

I wonder why she was getting a mourning cover in 1861?

South Carolina succeeded December 20, 1860
Confederate States of America formed February 4, 1861.
Confederate Post Office established at a later date (not sure of date), but basic rate was 5 cents for this short distance. This is an in between rate?

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German, German State and Saar Revenues Wanted...

My guess is that you are collecting covers from US Presidents- And you have been missing Jefferson

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When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him

Not to interrupt the Monticello guessing-game

(something Jefferson-related? But he was longggg gone by the time it was sent; and Furman died in 1891 whilst this cover was sent 1861, but he was the receiver not the sender so his death-date is moot. I can't see a great rarity to it)

but these eBay purchases arrived in today's post and before they get carefully filed away ('lost' in a shoebox) I thought I'd scan them up. The Canadian section of my MC collection is really growing.

First up, a pair of 1cent 'Numeral' issue on cover from Bracebridge, Ontario. Nice 'cottage country' area. (The Numeral issue replaced the 'Leaf' issue of the previous year. Where the numbers are were maple leaves, and the value was only expressed in words...in English...which rankled French Canadians).



The next, a small size cover (how ever did these avoid getting 'lost' in sorting?) from near the end of the Great War, being postmarked in Bobcaygeon, Ontario on Sept 17, 1918. Features a 2cent War Tax Admiral; after the temporary measure of overprints, a plate was engraved with the 1ct surcharge integrated into the design.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

I sort of had the feeling that the Monticello cover would baffle people. When my agent sent me the auction catalog link for it, I knew immediately the significance; also it helped that the cover was listed under the wrong category.

It is a Confederate usage from South Carolina. The Confederate post office department did not begin mail handling in the southern states until 1 June 1861. Therefore this cover was procesed by the US PO. Confederate Postmaster General Regan directed that the southern post offices to continue collecting money (forwarding the money to Washington DC) and handling the mail in accordance with US regulations until the Confederate PO assumed the responsibility. Being a tiny rural hamlet, Monticello did not have much outgoing mail so when the PO ran out of stamps it did not reorder any, knowing there would be a change in the rates/rules in the immediate future. But the Federal 3-cent rate still applied to mail. Without any stamps, the Monticello PO collected 3 cents, wrote 'paid 3' and sent the cover to Greenville.

Independent state MCs and pre-June 1861 Confederate MCs are extremely difficult to locate. I only had one and its ratty and torn. So the Monticello cover fills a hole in my collection, plus its a legitimate US stampless usage, although technically illegal without a US postage stamp.

The general store building that housed the Monticello PO still exists. I also have a Furman cover from the same correspondence mailed in November 1861 that was marked 'paid 5' for the Confederate rate.

Nailed it! (sort of).

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German, German State and Saar Revenues Wanted...

A strange one received today from Delcampe.

A 1931 mourning cover from Indo-China.

However, there's no sign anywhere of a stamp that has fallen off/been removed. Also no indicia stating free-franking privilege, and no postage due assessed/charged/collected.



Hand-cancelled in Hanoi 15 June; then on reverse



machine-cancelled in Saigon the 18th; machine-cancelled in Marseilles 1st July; hand-cancelled in final-destination Epinal the 2nd.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

A most intresting thread, which I have just spent some time reading through.

I will pull out and scan the samll collection I have on the King George V memorial stamps, as these seem to be missing from the thread ....

ALLAN

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

As mentioned above, I have located the album with the small collection of memorial stamps and I will start posting scans ...

Each page will be cropped down, as it is then possible to show larger scans of each of the items.

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The 'In Memory' design was essaye by producing a small printing plate which would make six essays at each printing ...



Block of 6 essays showing the plate layout.



Enlarged illustration of the design as used on the above block



Enlarged illustration of a second design which was never essayed in stamp size.

This second design has the floral design extended around the portrait oval and the addition of the letter D added to the value(s) at the top corners.

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

As well as those shown above, a third design was prepared, and this again was based on the three-halfpence value.

The wording 'Three Halfpence' on the original was replaced by 'In Memory' and the head was also replaced with a three quarter face design.

There were also several other more minor changes to the design outside the head oval.



Essays of this design were also produced - imperforate



Some examples were also perforated to produce a finished stamp as it would have appeared in use.

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

As we already know from this thread, when President Harding died in 1923, the United States of America produced a stamp printed in black as a memorial.



With the British stamp under consideration, trials were also made at a bi-coloured stamp. This would have the central portion (the oval and head) in colour and the outer design in black.

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

At the same time as all these other trials and ideas were taking place, single colour trials were also made from the three halfpence plate



Printing in purple

In addition, as there had already been a memorial stamp issued in Belgium in 1934 for the death of King Albert I, it was decided that the printing in black as adopted by Belgium, (as well as others), would be tried.



The following are also on the same page of my collection - but with no additional information.

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

In addition to the changes to the stamp colour / design that we have seen so far - it was also considered - the use of an overprint which could be applied to existing stamps.



The overprint would be in the form illustrated above so that the text went around the top of the oval and at the bottom, between the oval and the value tablet.

This overprint was tried on some of the essays that had already been produced.

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

As we have seen, the general basis for the memorial stamp was the issued three halfpence stamp.


The basic issued stamp

The simplest of all the proposals that were put forward, was simply to print this value in purple instead of brown, this being the colour of the issued three pence stamp.


The issued 3d value


The three halfpence in purple - imperforate


perforated example in purple

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

In addittion to these trials, other countries had also used the simple method of the application of a black frame to the stamp issues.

Some examples are shown below ...

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

The final trials were made by the application of a coloured outer boarder to the stamps.


As shown earlier, but with the addition of a purple frame


Essay with the wording overprint and the addition of an outer frame


Single coloured essay with the wording overprint
Additional outer frame added


The purple and black essay
Additional outer frame added


The three most commonly used values of the photogravure series with black borders added

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

Before dealing with actual postal use ... mention should be made of the essay which was based on one of the designs originally submitted for the Silver Jubilee.

This was originally intended to be a larger size than the normal stamps when submitted in 1935, however, when re-submitted with revised wording, the size was reduced to that of the basic definitive stamps in use.


Imperforate


Perforated

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

Below is shown a cover from Canada with wording along the top edge and a black box, into which the stamp is placed

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

In Great Britain, envelopes were produced with black borders and a black box at the top right, which would form a border around the stamp when affixed.

Additional information in the way of text was also printed onto the front of the envelope.

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

To finish, a return to the issued stamps with the black borders ...

The following is a press cutting, but with not details regarding the original paper / magazine. The stamps illustrated in the cutting are cancelled at Glasgow on the 28th January 1936.



Examples were also used in London ...



CDS use on small piece
Used at Paddington
Dated 17 December 1936



Example used on cover from London to Swansea
London machine cancellation
Dated 23 May 1936

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That concludes what I have on these issues ...

I hope the information presented is useful in the story of memorial stamps and covers ...

ALLAN

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The British Postmark Database at http://philatelicweb.com/pmks/ with over 13,000 entries and over 9,600 illustrated.
Also: British Postage Rates - http://www.philatelicweb.com/rates/

Thanks tallanent for sharing that detailed desciption, makes it seem simple doesn't it? I must admit I would have prefered the 'In Memory' on the stamps, makes it look like they care.

[/quote]
If I had to choose between the two, I would take the latter. The design elements at the sides of the portrait in the first look like a cogwheel.

Overall, I'd say a small definitive-sized issue like this would not have done justice to his memory. A larger size would mean the details are not all 'shrunched in'.

Have never seen these essays before, thanks for the work of scanning and sharing! Its such efforts that make SB a great visual resource.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Tangentially-related to MCs, I've also always collected grimreaper cartoons.

This one is from the New Yorker recently

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Here's the Furman cover with the 5-cent Confederate rate sent in November 1861.

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night"

Beautiful covers! And a Merry Christmas/Happy New Year to all.

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German, German State and Saar Revenues Wanted...