Cover of the Month -- October 2005

October 30, 2005

Perfection Cancel on "Illustrated" Cover

by Bob Swanson

fancy cover

Here is an interesting item from my collection. It looks like a very nice illustrated cover, with the added bonus of being cancelled by a Perfection mechanical device. The markings make it to be registered, and it is the older 8-cent rate. But...it is NOT an illustrated cover, but rather an illustrated return address label!

Note that the clerk used the date stamp to cancel the front (which is a no-no for registered mail), and added one more impression to make the date really clear. Well, at least that gives us a nice impression of an Ithaca, Michigan, Type II Perfection, dated June 19, 1901.

And you thought that return address labels were something modern, something you receive in the mail from charities trying to raise money! The very small type at the bottom identifies that this label was produced by: "The Morris Return Stamp Co., Dav[enport] IA[Iowa]". The illustration includes a bicycle messenger, a very nice train with two RPO cars, and the mail being personally delivered at the recipient's door. Sadly, not very common today.

Please email comments to author. Bob's email address (in plain English) is:

rds <at> swansongrp < dot > com

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