U.S. Advertising Covers

This cover from St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, South Dakota carried a pad of note paper and some address label along with a solicitation for money to support the school.  I usually give the school a donation at the end of the year, but it sends me solicitations every month, most of which I don't keep.  However, I kept this cover for its attractive graphics of plains Indians tepees. 

SH

 Hi Steve: 

Interesting observation, could well be. I have no expertise in this area, but my guess is that a marketing department somewhere selected the art for these covers and "impact and effect" won out over attention to detail.

SH

Another of my contemporary illustrated advertising covers, this one from the Pacific Battleship Center, Los Angeles, CA.  It carried a solicitation for money to restore the battleship USS Iowa.  The photo to the right is of the five Sullivan brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy in January 1942 and requested that they be allowed to serve together.  They subsequently were assigned to USS Juneau, a light cruiser.  Juneau was damaged initially in a night engagement off Guadalcanal on November 12, 1942 and subsequently sunk by a Japanese submarine hours later.  All five Sullivan brothers perished and their loss became a national tragedy that ultimately resulted in the military's adoption of the Sole Survivor Policy to prevent the lose of multiple siblings serving in combat areas.  The Sullivan brothers had no connection with the USS Iowa, but their story and photo was used to add appeal to the solicitation.  The Pacific Battleship Center succeeded in restoring the USS Iowa and it is today an operating museum.  Information about the ship and the center may be found at www.pacificbattleship.com/ 

Iowa is my native state and I have a growing Iowa-related collection of cinderellas and covers. So, besides being an example of a 21st-century advertising cover, it is a welcome  addition to my Iowa cover album. 

SH 

A search of eBay occasionally turns up a cover that surprises and interests me at the same time.  Living in Oklahoma, I keep a collection of covers relating to the state in some way.  About a year ago, the cover below came up at a reasonable price and I bought it for its colorful strawberry cachet. Stilwell, Oklahoma, is the country seat of Adair county in the far eastern part of the state only about eight miles west of the the Arkansas state line.  I was amazed at its claim of being the "strawberry capital of the world."  Having also lived in Washington state where Marysville, WA, makes a similar claim, I doubted Stilwell's title.  However, after some internet research I found that there are, indeed, large strawberry fields in the area and they are grown there commercially.  I also found that the town holds, and has held since 1948, an annual Strawberry Festival in May.  My wife and I went last year and discovered that the small town of 4,000 plus puts on a good show.  The festival included good country musicians, a dozen or more food trucks, homemade ice cream, a car show featuring restored cars from the 1920s thru the 1960s, a Strawberry Queen, a parade, multiple vendors of crafts and other merchandise, a horseshoe pitching contest, and the opportunity to buy strawberries fresh out of the fields.  I also learned that the Stilwell Democrat-Journal is still publishing, but as a weekly now. While lacking philatelic value, this cover led to a fun day and some new knowledge about my adopted home state.  It seems that there is no end to the benefits that accrue from collecting stamps and covers. 

SH

Non-philatelic in origin, this roughly opened cover survived to be collected by me.  I was attracted to the cover by its colorful advertisement of the eight-day Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Festival held in Kutztown.  An internet search revealed that the Festival is still being held and 2019 will be its 70th year.   

SH

Two factors motivated me to purchase this cover.  First, was the colorful corner card of an Oklahoma City real estate company, and, second, was the cancel.  It was posted in Oklahoma City, but the cancel dial does not include "City" after Oklahoma. Oklahoma was the original territorial name for Oklahoma City, but the cover was cancelled in 1919, twelve years after statehood and I thought that was odd, especially since the return address of the real estate business used Oklahoma City. Turns out it was not unusual, however. A local postal historian told me the OKC post office did not get around to adding "City" to the cancelling dial until 1923!  

Also, it appears that the cover may have been previously addressed and the address erased.  There is a faint impression behind the bolder address in black ink.  Given the date stamp to the left, probably a receiving stamp applied by the addressee, the background writing may have been notes written by the addressee.  Those notes may, in turn, have been erased by the seller of the cover in an effort to make it more attractive. Other than Mount Ayr, Iowa, is in Ringgold County and just a few miles north of the border with Missouri, I have no information about the addressee.

SH

Nothing of philatelic value in this printed reply cover.  I bought it solely for the its attractive design and printing.  It was good advertising for the Art School, in my opinion.  It is destined for my commercial cover collection. 

Don StampHinger

When I was a teenager in semi-rural Iowa during the 1950s, my friends and I did a lot of hunting for rabbits, squirrels, ducks, and geese.  We also read many of the hunting and fishing magazines then popular.  The company that used this cover to mail information about taxidermy used to advertise in those magazines.  It was our fantasy to become taxidermists and preserve the animals and birds that we shot.  Seeing this cover on eBay brought back the memories of those days and ads.  It is a cover in poor condition with soft edges and corners and roughly opened on the reverse.  However,the seller had priced it accordingly at $7.99 plus shipping.  A cover like this in fine condition would sell anywhere from $50 to $100, far out of my normal price range.  I put in a snipe bid for $10.00 thinking I would surely be outbid.  Lo and behold, I got the cover for opening price.  As an added feature, there are admonitions on its reverse about conserving game.  A prize for my advertising cover collection and a reminder of my youth. 

Don StampHinger 

I like the early advertising covers. Here are a few of my favorites. Not all in the best shape, but the artwork is eye-catching.

A 1947 cover from Fleetwood Cover Service regarding the Centenary International Philatelic Exhibition (CIPEX) in New York.  The mailing is late for dispersing information, as the exhibition started on May 17th.