I am working on my USA collection and decided I wanted to collect some of the 19th century stamps and early airmails on cover. I found that in many cases I can find an interesting cover for less than the cost of a mint stamp. And I find the covers more interesting anyway.
I was looking at early Airmail stamps on cover the other day. I didn't want the typical first flight covers, just some nice usage. Of all the C-1s I looked at this was the nicest, but I passed it up because the Buy-It-Now was more than I wanted to spend. So I'm in the movie theater the other night waiting for the lights to go down and the movie to start and I thought I'd check my email. There was a teaser email from eBay with this cover! I decided to take a second look and BAM a few things hit me about the cover, and I hit the magic "BUY" button right in the theater!
I'm hoping some of you have figured it out, but to start it is a clean and pleasing looking cover to represent C1, with two of them and a plate number. It also has a 5 cent Norse American commemorative. Mailed Chicago to Benton Harbor, Michigan... to none other than one of my early philatelic heros! Ernie Filstrup was the general manager of Covel Manufacturing. He was a very avid collector and you will find many covers both from and to Covel with interesting stamps and cancels. He must've saved them all, and I understand that there was quite an estate sale of his collection.
Old Ernie was very into private perforations and actually had Shermack create a special private perf just for his company's use. This is the one that 'experts' always declare "counterfeit Scott 318". So it's pretty cool that the's connected to this cover as well.
The other interesting thing is on the reverse side. Note that this was mailed in Chicago on December 31, 1925 and received in Benton Harbor on January 2, 1926. So this cover straddles the dateline! I just find that neat and you can't make 'em that way!
I did pay more than I'll admit, but it is a piece I'm happy to have. I am normally cheap and buy my stamps as low as I can at auction, but when a one of a kind piece comes along, I'll dig deep into my pocket!
