Another new addition to my US airmails commercial usages is this cover mailed in 1972 from Caroline Islands. Are these islands still governed by US? I don't know the current status. Are such covers hard to find?
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"Experience is the name you give to the mistakes you made yesterday."
Saleem, never seen a letter from the Carolines before. They WERE part of the US, as trust territories, but are now part of Micronesia and Palua, which are now sovereign states closely aligned and allied to US.
the great thing about your cover is its authentic commercial appearance.
i'd say you got a keeper
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The UN trust territory, administered by the United States, covered the region known as Micronesia (“tiny islandsâ€) and comprised three major island groups—the Marianas, the Carolines, and the Marshalls.
In 1986 the U.S. government declared the Trust Territory agreements no longer in effect.
The Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands thus became sovereign, self-governing states with the United States responsible for their security and defense, and the Northern Mariana Islands formally became a commonwealth of the United States.
The Republic of Palau (including the Carolines) entered into a compact of free association with the United States and became a sovereign state in 1994.
Thanks David and Terry for the info on the Caroline Islands. I checked Wiki for Caroline Is. postal history but nothing specific was there about US postage usage on covers mailed from there. I am looking for the time-window when US postage was used on mails originating from this place and other islands in the chain/group.
This cover will go into my US Airmail commercial usages but this made me curious about "US administered Caroline Islands postal history".
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"Experience is the name you give to the mistakes you made yesterday."
Support the Hobby -- Join the American Philatelic Society 31 Jan 2013 01:50:05am
re: Mailed from Caroline Islands
Saleem,
I love the cover. The standard reference is "A Postal History / Cancellation study of U.S. Pacific Islands (including the Trust Territories)" by Robert T. Murphy (1983). I own it. It is readily avaliable from a variety of sources. The Ponape post office was established July 1, 1951. Your particular 4-bar cancels is noted as known from May 1968 to August 1979.
I would think this is a tough area to collect. I know I only had one Caroline Island postcard at one time, postmarked at Yap. I just had no use or it, so I gave it away. Now I wish I had just kept, because they are just so hard to find.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 31 Jan 2013 10:56:28am
re: Mailed from Caroline Islands
In the early 1960s when I was in the US Coast Guard we visited the Carolines the Marshalls and the Marianas including Guam which was out central base. Mail from any ofthe trust territories used US Postage.
By the way, Yap Island is well known for two specifi8c things. The round stone money and at least outside Ponape, topless females. I understand from some Coasties that I corresponded with a few years ago that this has not changed much although many of the remote Coast Guard stations have been closed.
The Coast Guard Cutter Kukui still make the rounds once or twice a year.
Some of the volcanic scenery on Koror and Babelthawp, rivals that of the Hawaiian Islands.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
Thanks for sharing all this with us. See how a cover made you revive those wonderful ;-) memories of your Coast Guard years. Isn't postal HISTORY great!
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"Experience is the name you give to the mistakes you made yesterday."
Here's another one I recieved today. This one is mailed from Mariana Islands - one more added to the beginning of an idea
Probably I will try and get a few more of such offshore US PO covers (other than continental US) maybe Ryukus, Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba....any suggestions.
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"Experience is the name you give to the mistakes you made yesterday."
Found another one from Puerto Rico and one from US Virgin Islands, pictures are below. Do not have anything postmarked Guam and Phillipine Islands - maybe there were US Post Offices from where commercial (non-philatelic) mail was sent to US using US stamps (airmail in particular) I want to check these places - Panama, Midway, Ryuku Is., Cuba, Micronesia, Diego Garcia, Western Samoa, etc. Does anyone have literature to confirm and/or add places from where US postmarks could be collected.
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"Experience is the name you give to the mistakes you made yesterday."
