Postmark Calendar

June 27th, 2002. First day cover of the sheet of stamps issued by the Vienna UN postal administration for the Johannesburg Earth Summit:

June 28th, 2010. UN stamps from the NY administration with an First Day of Issue cancel for the 65th anniversary of the institution:

30 June 1928 - an early Canadian meter that I picked up at a TSF auction way back when.

4 July, 1986 
France, 1886-1986 Centennial of Statue of Liberty unveiling, Air Postal Card FDC, 'postmarked' Paris. Too bad so many folks here in the states either forget, or never learn how crucial French assistance was for the success of the American Revolution.

5 July 1978 
Canal Zone, postmarked Balboa, C.Z. These are 1974 8 cent postal cards with the 1978 2 cent surcharge. Although the two cards imaged below are nearly identical, and both are Scott #UX21, they each bear surcharges from two slightly different surcharge dies, recognized by UPSS with different IDs, S33a for the top postal card, and S34a for the bottom one. The S33 & S34 are on smooth thin stock, and S33a & S34a are on course, thick stock. Although not distinguished with different identifiers, S33a & S34a are known in either dull or bright fluorescence. Below the two cards is a blown up image of the surcharges, with red circles showing the visible differences used to identify them. Envelopes and air mail postal cards also used these same surcharge dies.

July 7, 1980 USA Scot # UX77 postcard commemorating 200 year anniversay Battle on Monmouth and Molly Pitcher- Monmouth is the now what is know as Freehold Borough, New Jersey)

The battle was considered inconclusive and irrelevant with neither the British nor the colonials gaining any advantage

8 July 1946 
USA, Postmarked Portland, Oregon. Message from parents back to kids at home in Southern California: "We are in Portland now but it is raining so much Pa has changed his mind of going to Seattle as he hates rain. Be good." And that's how San Diego weather spoils a person.

11 July 1900 
Germany, Scott#55

13 July 1969
In May 1968, the American submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was lost in the Atlantic near the Azores. There was much mystery surrounding what had become of the sub. In October of that year, the wreckage of the Scorpion was finally located by the US Navy ship Mizar using a towed underwater camera platform. It was important to determine the cause of the sinking, which was not clear from the photos taken by the Mizar. The Navy's recently built bathyscaph, Trieste II, which was undergoing testing and training dives off the southern California coast at the time, was tasked to go to the Atlantic to inspect the Scorpion more closely to gather evidence about its sinking. Hydro Products, a company my dad worked for, made underwater research equipment including cameras. They were tasked to quickly come up with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) that could be operated from the Trieste to more closely inspect the Scorpion wreckage without risking entangling the Trieste in the debris. The ROV was dubbed "El Tortuga" (the turtle). I remember as a kid watching my dad and other engineers testing a prototype in a pool. At that early stage, it was two slabs of Styrofoam with one of their underwater TV cameras sandwiched between them, and aquarium pumps mounted in various locations to provide mobility. A cable led to a control station that allowed the operator to maneuver the unit around the pool, while watching a live feed from the TV camera. In June 1969, the Trieste II began making long dives to relocate and examine the Scorpion. The cover below was made for the second dive, which lasted 12 hours. The three men aboard were Hawks, Dunn, and Nevin. The support ship for the Trieste was the USS White Sands (ARD-20). Although the dive was made June 18, the cover was not mailed until July, and is postmarked New York.