Postmark Calendar

How did the foodie me miss this issue. Need to go looking for it.
always a pleasure to discover your images.
david

This is one German state that I do not have in my collection. Still trying to organize what I have so I can plan my acquisition plans. 

9th December (1941)

U.S., Scott #U436, 3-cent purple embossed envelope, depicting a profile of George Washington and postmarked on this date in 1941 in Simi, California.  There are many die varieties and a few different envelope colors of this design, and I have not researched this one in detail to determine if it is anything other than a typical #U436.  Please feel free to offer comments if you can identify it better than I have done.

About This Cover.  From an historical point of view, this is another one of my "near miss" postmarks from a major date in world history, coming just two days after the bombing of the U.S. Naval Fleet in Pearl Harbor and one day after President Franklin Roosevelt gave his famous "Date Which Will Live in Infamy" speech and the U.S. declared war on Japan and officially entered into World War II.

I should also mention that what was then called Simi, California is today known as Simi Valley, and was later infamous in its own right for the Rodney King police brutality incident in 1991, followed by a trial in 1992, which led to rioting in the Los Angeles area.  I was also able to learn that Henry F. Mingledorff, the sender of this cover, was born on 30th December 1885 and lived in Simi Valley until his death on 1st January 1969, but I was unable to find out anything else about him.

A search for the addressee, MJB Co. at 816 Traction Avenue in Los Angeles, did not yield any useful information, either.

December 10

Philadelphia's former postmaster is featured on this faded, scissors-cut 1 cent stamp (Scott 145; 1870) postmarked in the City of Brotherly Love on this date.

10th December (1942)

U.S., Scott #805, 1-1/2 cent bister brown definitive stamp from the Presidential Series (known to collectors as the "Prexies") depicting Martha Washington and postmarked on this date in 1942 in Ottumwa, Iowa.  Ottumwa received some notoriety from the 1970s-1980s popular TV series, Mash, as the fictional character Walter "Radar" O'Reilly was from Ottumwa and talked about his family's farm near there.

Generally, I know very little about postal rates, but this cover is an example of one thing about which I am reasonably sure.  The normal first class letter rate back in 1942 was 3 cents, but it seems that one could pay half that rate by leaving the envelope unsealed.  I have this entire cover, complete with its original contents, which happened to be a Christmas card, and the envelope has never been sealed.  I acquired this item from my wife's maternal grandmother, whose family came from Waterloo, Iowa.

I have also noticed that the stamp may be a lower margin copy, as it appears that 2 or 3 blind perforations have resulted in a small tab of selvedge material still attached to the stamp at lower left.  The back of the envelope was also adorned with a 1942 Christmas seal, which was unfortunately damaged, probably before it was attached to the envelope by the looks of things.

December 11


This cover, postmarked in Pascagoula, Mississippi on this date in 1971, was given my by TSF member Beryllium Guy . The naval cover, which marked the launching of the nuclear submarine USS William H. Bates (SSN 680), bears an 8 cent multicolored, perf. 10 vertically Flag and White House coil stamp (Scott 1338G; May 10, 1971).

This one was postmarked in Paris on this date in 1978, at 4.15pm. I like this one - it's a fun design.


France
Released 18 November 1978.
Scott 1622
Aide a la Readaptation (Rehabilitation of the handicapped)

December 12

This one peso brown, perf. 13x13.5 stamp depicting a sunflower (Scott 690; 1961) was postmarked in Buenos Aires, Argentina on this date.

Zwolle is an interesting city with an very nice Wikipedia site.  The enlarged topog map was fun to visit, as well as learning about the 'bluefingers'.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zwolle

13th December (1923)

Belgian Congo, Scott #88, 5-centime yellow depicting a Ubangi woman and postmarked on this date in 1923 in Elisabethville.  This stamp is the lowest value in a set of 26 stamps, with values going all the way up to 10 francs.

From Wikipedia:  "Lubumbashi (former names: Élisabethville in French and Elisabethstad in Dutch) in the southeastern part of Democratic Republic of the Congo, is the second-largest city in the country, the largest being the capital, Kinshasa.  Lubumbashi is the mining capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, acting as a hub for many of the country's biggest mining companies.  The copper-mining city serves as the capital of the relatively prosperous Katanga Province and is near the border with Zambia.  Population estimates vary widely but average around 1.5 million."

Oberägeri is a village of about 5,000 near Zug.

Wiki photo:

Rotterdam, Netherlands on December the 15th.

16th December (2014)
9th January (2015)

As the Monty Python boys would have said, "Now for something completely different!"  This is one of the most unusual pieces of modern U.S. postal history that I have, and it just came to me by a lucky chance that a family friend misaddressed a Christmas card to my wife and me back in 2014, and when it was returned to her, she fixed the mistake in the address and simply stuck another stamp partially on top of the old one, and the postmarking machine was aligned just right so that both dates are clearly legible!  How's that for luck?

Original Franking:  U.S., Scott #4949, "Bumble, the Abominable Snowman" 49-cent non-denominated Forever stamp from the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" set of four stamps, issued on 6th November 2014, with images taken from the 1960s TV Christmas show special, postmarked on this date in 2014 in Santa Ana, California.

Second Franking:  U.S., Scott #4741, "Sealed with Love" 46-cent non-denominated Forever stamp from the Love Series issued on 30th January 2013, postmarked again on 9th January 2015 in Santa Ana, California.

smauggie, I am sorry to report that there are no auxiliary markings on the envelope, or if there were at one point in the form of an adhesive label, the sender removed it when she mailed the cover for the second time.  Still, a very interesting piece of postal history, don't you think?