Here is an earlier penalty cover with manuscript cancel. (Dare I say "fancy cancel"?)
The Pusey and Jones & Co was founded in 1848, though I suspect this cover falls somewhere between the Civil War and the Spanish American War. If anyone has any ideas on a more precise date, such commentary would be welcome.
I don't know that I collect Penalty covers as such, but...they keep creeping in, and I find that antique shops (particularly those that are rather disorganized) are a great place to find some. Anyway. I was filing some covers over the last couple days and ran across several. These aren't all I own--just a few hiding out with no place to find a home.
The first is from the Canal Zone:
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (front only!)
Post Office 1931:
Post Office 1945:
The fun part of this one is that the contents are included:
Finally, one from the Organization of American States (remember them?):
As far as I can figure out the addressee in the 1931 PO cover is the same Theodore Kemm who authored many paper money references.
I have found Gustav J Fricke in the ancestry.com collections, but haven't had the time to identify him as a philatelist.
Two final comments: the OAS still exists, but who ever hears of it? and, who takes a cover apart and just leaves the front? I get them in accumulations every now & then, but won't buy (well, if it had a US Scott #2 or a GB Scott #2 on it...) given other options.
Most of my Penalty covers fit within a specific collecting area. The first one fits into at least 2: personal and covers from Trumbull County, Ohio, part of the Connecticut Western Reserve.
(1) It was addressed to my father from the Office of Price Administration & includes the application and some fuel coupons; (2) It is postmarked at Cortland Ohio, Trumbull County--a PO I find otherwise difficult to obtain. If anyone is interested I have images of the insert and coupons.
The 2nd is an oversized cover from the USS Niagara (a supply ship). I collect Niagara Falls, Niagara County and Niagara related, so this fits in that collecting area. There have been several ships named Niagara--not the least of which was the original, involved in Perry's exploits in the War of 1812 (and there's a replica/rebuild in Erie, PA).
It's just fun following up on these things. And the other great thing is that my parents saved nearly everything. Think maybe that's where I got my "accumulating" gene?
"What does the AAMC reference number mean at the top of the page?"
AAMC = American Air Mail Catalogue. I am told that is the best source of info on US crash covers, first flight covers, etc. AAMC #551221 simply means 1955/Dec/21. I suppose if there were two crashes the same day there would be an alpha suffix, but I don't know for sure. I've never even seen an AAM Catalogue. I got that info from a cover collector several years ago. I really don't collect that area, but I wanted one example for my collection and when I got it I had to learn as much as I could about it!
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
My father was a steelworker, and we lived about 5 miles from the steel mill. He had to have the fuel coupons for his livelihood, and it was a crucial occupation in the war effort. He was the right age to be called up for service, but was passed over until the build up began for the expected invasion of Japan. His call up was negated with the end of the war.
I have collected penalty covers, but not because they were penalty covers. Instead, they simply fit into other collecting interests.
My best one is this one, postmarked Arenas Valley, New Mexico, in 1947:
It was posted by Postmaster Olga Harper, who happened to be the mother of my best friend at the time, Ernest Harper. Arenas Valley is a tiny village near Silver City, New Mexico. My family moved there from New York State in 1949. I have published a web page based on my early philatelic experiences in Arenas Valley, titled Box 28 Arenas Valley NM.
Larsdog showed us a penalty cover used to forward a crash cover. Such covers are known among crash-cover collectors as "ambulance covers," the meaning of which is obvious. Shown below are the remains of a Canadian crash cover and its ambulance cover:
Without question, the crash was fatal to the contents of the cover, which were being returned to the to the sender, J.N. Sissons, a stamp dealer located in Toronto. The crash which damaged the cover is the famous, or infamous, 1954 collision over Moosejaw, Sask. of a Trans-Canada Airliners Canadair airliner and an RCAF Harvard trainer (the same aircraft as the Texan in the U.S. Air Force). The collision occurred in clear skies in the middle of the day; 31 passengers and four TCA crew members on board the North Star were killed, along with the British student pilot of the Harvard and a woman on ground who was at her regular job of hours cleaning. On the day of the crash, she had agreed to change her schedule because of the needs of one of her regular clients.
Well, you can collect form a branch of service. From a US possession. From a particular state government. You can collect for fancy penalty indicia (which is more my bent).
Larsdog mentioned crash cover penalty covers, aka "ambulance covers" among crash-cover collectors. They're used to enclose letters and/or their envelopes that are so badly damaged that they wouldn't survive the remainder of their journey, or being returned if the address has been rendered unreadable. They're not easy to find, but they are fascinating, to me, at least. The crash covers themselves often serve as "forensic evidence" of the disasters that created them — I have covers from a 1934 crash that show evidence of damage by fire, smoke, water, mud, and oil; they come from a crash in the Syrian desert in which the DC-2 aircraft crashed in a violent thunderstorm and caught fire. Ambulance covers tell us a good deal about the postal protocols and public relations strategies in place at the time crashes take place.
Good points, Bob. Crash covers also tell us that traveling by air in the 50's and 60's was a LOT riskier than air travel today! But so was driving, childbirth, and any number of things. Crash covers often tell interesting stories and remind us of how risks have changed over the past 50 years, both at the same time. How much more fun can collecting get than that?!?
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
I must admit that I had not heard the term "ambulance covers" but rather "body bags"--in either case an interesting description. In any event--I got one just the other day. The envelope is about 9x14, window on 1 side, large print apology on the reverse. Inside was a catalog that had been mutilated, (altho' the address area was intact). I'll try to get a scan of the bag (it's oversize for my scanner) and the catalog (once I remember where I put them...).
Mea culpa. I just sent a message to smauggie in which I mentioned APRL--which is the American Philatelic Research Library. As my wife rightly complains, I tend to speak in acronyms.
Roger
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