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Interesting bit of soldiers' mail from the US during the final year of WW1. A picture postcard sent from Camp Merrit in NJ by Tommie Rhoades to his brother Edgar back in Arkansas.

There is a machine cancel with a single ring die and six wavy lines. Inside the ring it reads, JERSEY CITY, N.J. / MERRITT BRANCH. Inside, JUL 30 / 8AM / 1918. The wavy lines obliterated two 1c Washington stamps.

Writing the day before, he says:

Dear Brother.
We are at Camp Merritt.
Am feeling good. Have an
outfit of O.D. clothes. We
may stay here several days
and hoping this will all
be over soon.
Tommie

1st Co: July Auto: Repl. Draft
Around Camp Pike
Camp Merritt

It's an interesting point in time. According to his return address, he is in the 1st company of the July Auto Replacement Draft from Camp Pike. In the Spring of 1918, when US AEF casualty rates increased following the German Spring Offensive, divisions could no longer keep up their own replacement pools. Army camps across the US - Camp Pike in Arkansas, Camp Jakobson in South Carolina, Camp Hancock in George and others organized replacement drafts. Men moved through the pipeline on a preset schedule without waiting for a specific unit vacancy. These drafts were named after the month they were organized and broken into numbered companies. Hence, 1st company, July automatic replacement draft from Camp Pike (Little Rock, Arkansas).

It is, therefore, reasonable to conclude that Tommie was from Arkansas which is supported by his writing 'home' to his brother.

It would appear that he had just arrived at Camp Merritt, one of the embarkation camps, for processing and staging for overseas deployment. He mentions getting an outfit of OD clothes. That would be, Olive Drab (similar in concept to the Field Grey of German troops). In a few days, his unit would probably have been marched or sent by rail to Hoboken and then shipped to France.

About four million US troops were sent to the Western Front in WW1, one million of them passed through Camp Merritt. The camp was decommissioned after the war.

The picture side of the card is of a Church in Illinois. My guess is that soldiers at the camp were provided time and random or donated cards to write home. This was one.

PS ... another find from one of Roy's fifty-cent boxes on club night. 

   

   

Here is a cover with a cancel from the Great Western Railway from February 20, 1867. It's on a cover that was travelling west to Windsor, Canada West [CW]. Canada West was created in 1840 following the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Together with Canada East, it formed the Province of Canada -- a British Colony. The GWR was the first railway chartered in Canada West and operated between 1853 and 1882 when it became part of the Grand Trunk Railway.

Four months after this cover was mailed, on July 1, 1867, Canada West would become the Province of Ontario in the new Confederation of Canada.

Stamp:
Province of Canada
First Cents Issue - Beaver
Issued in July 1859
5c, Carmine
Unitrade 15

Sadly, the stamp was obliterated with a pen cancel. However, it's still a very nice, bright stamp. According to the dealer the cover was "found in Norway in May 2012 and had never been exposed to sunlight".  Such are the legends of provenance (smile).

Cancels:

Receiving
Great Western Railway
Partial Ring - Outside: G.W.R. / 6[7 - VERY faint]
Centre: WEST / FEB 20
Type  1606 (Jarett, p. 567)

Arrival
Single Ring - FEB 20 / 1867

   

   

   

   

I have been taking an interest in our local postal infrastructure because of Graham (Exploring Stamps) Beck’s new PixPost app. A few days ago the quest led me to the post office on CFB Kingston. I was delighted to find it was more than a retail post office - it was also the distribution point for Military Post Office 305 Vimy. An MPO, a postmaster in camo and great cancels - well worth the time invested in the ferry line!

   
   

When I dreamed of living in a house down a peaceful country road, I imagined my mailbox. It was going to be a miniature version of my house at the end of my long driveway. The reality is a group of four community mailboxes on a busy corner almost 2 km away. And so I get both envious and very happy when I come across a great mailbox. These two on Wolfe Island are old favourites:

       

This one is just up the road from the Harrowsmith post office:

My latest find is on Highway 2 between Kingston and Gananoque:

   

We used to get the Kingston Whig delivered, but that luxury ended during the pandemic. I am thinking of decorating the “Whig tube” at the end of my driving and using it for local mail …

In 1965 Hong Kong was still under British Administration but there were significant financial and trade ties with the PRC. The PRC treated HK as a special zone for postal purposes. HK mail would have passed through one of the Guangdong exchange offices at inland rates.

Here's a cover from the Gaoyao County Branch of the People's Bank of China to the HK branch of the Zhejiang Xingye Bank. The HK branch was affiliated with the Zhejiang Xingye Bank [AKA National Commercial Bank, Ltd. which had been established in 1907 in Hangzhou].

There was obviously so much correspondence that the PRC's People's Bank of China made the effort to pre-print the outgoing and return addresses on the envelopes they used. A common commercial practice between banks.

   

Printed in red

Addressee:
Middle column (large characters)
浙江兴业银行香港分行
[Zhejiang Xingye Bank Hong Kong Branch]

Right-hand column (smaller characters)
香港 / 大道中十号A
[Hong Kong / Des Voeux Road Central, No. 10A]

Sender:
Left-hand columns
中国人民银行高要县支行
[People’s Bank of China, Gaoyao County Branch]
地址: 广东省肇庆市红旗二路
[Hongqi 2nd Road, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province]
电报挂号: 41007
[Telegraph registration number: 41007]

Less common, however, is the hand-stamp the company used on the back of the cover. It is a red-ink, rubber hand-stamp with a portrait of Mao Zedong in a military cap and under, a pine branch.

As far as I can tell, the text reads something like, 敬祝毛主席 / 萬壽無疆 [May Chairman Mao live for 10,000 years without limit]  Transcription and translation advice is welcome.

Pine, an evergreen, was a traditional symbol of longevity. 

   

When this cover was sent, November 22, 1965, the Cultural Revolution had not yet started. This image and message would be very common on letters, posters and painted on walls during the ten years of turmoil (1966-1976). Seeing this political endorsement as a hand-stamp on a commercial cover, albeit from China's official bank, in late 1965 illustrates its use during the prelude period as events and tensions built leading up to the cultural revolution which started in the following May.

Stamp:
中华人民共和国 [People’s Republic of China]
Series: Government Buildings
Great Hall of the People, Beijing
June 17, 1964
8分 [Domestic rate for <20g, used for HK], Red, without gum (as issued)
Sc. 880

One of the few stamps of this period that did not follow the earlier PRC practice of numbering and dating the stamps at the bottom.

Cancel:
Single circle CDS
I can make out ... 广 东 / 高 要 [Guangdon Province, Gaoyao (county)]
Not sure about the three characters on the bottom? Corrections and advice welcome.
Date 1965.11.22

An interesting afternoon's diversion. 

Cheers, Hugh

Hi ... I'm only missing one stamp in the 1921 Postage Due series for Western Hungary ... the red 50f overprint on the 200f stamp. If you have one you'd like to sell, please see me at any club meeting, or leave a message. Thanks. 

   

I had a great time at the Gananoque Stamp Show a few weeks ago and got some cool stuff. Just before leaving (as I, to my surprise, still had a bit of money left) I sat down at Graham's boxes to get a bunch of inexpensive covers. I was looking for interesting cancels. One of the one's I found was this one. (that's a lot of ones)

It's an Imperial German postal stationery card used in East Africa. It has an 1894 cancel from Tanga on a 5Pf numerical indicium with a local overprint changing the currency and value to 3 Pesa.

It was addressed to Herrn Dr. Kremser, Tanga, R.P.D. Bundesrath. R.P.D. is the abbreviation for a Reichspost‑dampfer (Imperial mail‑steamer). SS Bundesrath was one of the East‑Africa Line mailboats that shuttled between Hamburg, Tanga and Dar‑es‑Salaam; she happened to be in port, so the card was delivered Herr Doctor aboard.

As far as I can tell, the message reads:

Tanga d. 23 August  94.

Mein lieber Dr.

Werden hiermit freundlichst einge-
laden zum Skat und Süßbier.
Heute Abend 8h.

Mit Gruß
Kaphingst.

[Tanga, 23  August  1894 / My dear Doctor, / Please accept this cordial invitation to join me for Skat and a sweet-beer this evening at 8 o’clock. / Kind regards, / Kaphingst]

Sounds like a local businessman or government worker on shore is making plans to enjoy a card game and German sweet-beer with someone he knows on the steamer -- a passenger or the ship's doctor perhaps.

I spent the morning pouring over my Michel catalogs. I was concerned this was too good to be true for a couple of bucks. However, so far it looks good.

Postal Stationary
German East Africa
Provisional Overprint [Due to Currency Change on July 1, 1893] on Mi.Nr. Germany P36]
Issued on July 1, 1893
Overprint, in black 3 PESA 3 on German P36
3 PESA on 5Pf, Green
Mi.Nr. P1ii

This was a provisional fix, a local press added the 3 PESA 3 overprint to the existing stock of 5Pf cards, first the P30s, then the P36s while waiting for rupee-currency stamps and stationary from Europe.

That it is type ii (OP on P36 vs P30) is indicated by: 194g imprint in lower right corner - P30 cards have no print datum; P36 cards show three numerals + one lower case letter; thick continuous line printed between the 3rd and 4th dotted address lines, only on cards P32 to 36; The word An is 93mm from the left edge of the indicium stamp frame, on P30 it would have been 79mm.
Source: Michel Granzsachen-Katalog Deutschland

I understand that 12,000 of these cards were printed on P30 and 8-10,000 on the P36.

Cancel
Single ring CDS, in black
Inside the ring * TANGA *
Centre: 2[4] 8 / 94

It would appear that the invitation was written on the 23td but that the CDS was not applied until the 24th. Herr Doctor may have missed his card game and beer. Hopefully they got together the next day. 

Cheers, Hugh

   
   

On the way to the show in Gananoque, we made a side trip to visit the Joyceville post office, located at 2514 Findlay Station Road. This post office is in what Canada Post calls Postmaster Owned Premises. The postmaster built a 10 x 12 foot shed on her property and created an accessible Canada Post retail outlet:

   

Unfortunately, the postmaster has made the decision to close the post office on Friday, August 15 due to low volume.

This postcard was mailed from the postal branch office at the Irish National Exhibition in Dublin in 1907:

   

Canada was represented at the exhibition with a pavilion in which a wide range of products was displayed. This postcard of the pavilion is from the government of Ontario archives:

   

The exhibition was considered a success by many, but the Irish who supported independence - both in Ireland and emigrants living abroad - viewed it as a scheme of the English royalists. This article in The Gaelic American, a newspaper published in New York City, expresses those feelings (from Villanova University Library digital archives):

   

Fifty-two acres of land were transformed into the exhibition grounds. An artificial lake was created with a 90 foot high water slide. My postcard has the exhibition postmark, but it is not a picture of the exhibition. The card I would like to find is this one, from the Toronto Public Library digital archives. It shows the view from the top of the water slide:

The British Postmark Society had a sale for members in July. I got lots of goodies, but shopping was difficult. There were no photos of the items, just a spreadsheet, identifying covers, postcards and real photo postcards with a code. All of the descriptions centred on the postmark in loving detail - almost as if these people don’t care about the picture side of the card!  

These two items have slogans to engage the families at home. The first is on a white mailing label affixed to a brown envelope:

   

SAVE WASTE / PAPER METALS / BONES RAGS

The second slogan appears on a postcard portraying the National Museum of Cardiff. And yes, I would not have been interested in the card if I only saw the picture side, so maybe some of that British “slogan appreciation” is rubbing off on me!

   

HELP TO WIN / ON THE / KITCHEN FRONT