Pictorial Cancels: 1st Half of 2015

The first half of 2015 was rather slow for pictorial cancels.  There were none used until May which had two cancels and then only three in June. Four of the five were part of ongoing series from previous years.\

2015 version of the Bethel History Fair. This series began in 2011 in South Royalton.

The Floating Bridge in Brookfield has recently been renovated.

The Chittenden County Stamp Club has commemorated the Civil War for the last five years.  This cancel is the last one in the series of five.

The Washington County Stamp Club has honored the Vermont Mountaineers baseball team with cancels since 2006.  Thus this is the 10 entry into the series.

Teenie's Fishing Derby is an annual event in Chittenden, Vermont in the central Green Mountains.  This is the 10th entry into the series which also began in 2006.

If you're interested in more information about Vermont Pictorial cancels, visit my website containing example for the last 30+ year: Vermont Pictorial Cancels

Sherburne Center (Late Killington)

I recently purchased this unusual straight-line emergency cancel for Sherburne Center (Rutland County),  Vermont

The late Leon White explained the handstamp in the February 1993 issue of The Vermont Philatelist.

"On July 28, 1926 the Post Office of Sherburne. Vt. was changed to Killington as it was easily confused by the mail service with Shelburne, Vt. But many of the patrons of the former named office were not too excited about having their mail delivered to an office named after the nearby mountain. They contacted their representatives and senators to have the name changed back to Sherburne, so on
December 1, 1926, after a little more than five months, the office name became Sherburne Center, Vt.

"This caused an emergency at the Post Office, as a new cancel was not at hand so they used, for a short time, an unusual cancel in straight line reading 'SHERBURNE CENTER VT / (Late Killington)'.

"I (Leon White) have two covers from the new office canceled Dec. 2, 1926…..

"Many years later the ski industry became the thing. The office of Sherburne
Center again became Killington, Vt. on Dec. 1, 1961."

As you can see my example is dated Jan 5 which must be Jan. 5, 1927.  So at least 3 examples the emergency cancel exist.

I am assuming the date is in 1927, but there is a 1928 Christmas seal on the back, so perhaps the cancel was used for a longer period of time.

East Putney, Vermont

Here's a cover with a cancellation that seems to have it all.  It's a County cancel, plus an oval and a star killer.   Only the second county cancel recorded from this post office.

See the information:  http://www.vermontps.org/CountyPostmaster/VTCountyPostmaster.html

The star killer shows better in this scan from the retroreveal website:

Office Request Envelopes: RFD Usages

Office Request Envelopes:

RFD usages

(this originally appeared in the August 2014 The Vermont Philatelist)

I know of no one other than myself who collects this area.  These are envelopes with a pre-printed return address that only included blank lines and the post office name.  Of course, individuals or companies could have their full names and return addresses printed on government envelopes for a fee in addition to the postal cost.

However, if a postmaster ordered at least 500 such envelopes at one time  with  the Office Request in the upper left, the cost to the postmaster was only the cost of the imprinted stamp.  This service was available from the 1880s through the 1930s.  

In the 1922 Postal Guide the advantages were enumerated:  “The use of ‘office-request’ stamped envelopes by patrons of the Postal Service should be encouraged by postmasters. The presence of the blank return card is of much mutual benefit to the public and the Postal Service; when purchasers of these envelopes complete the cards by writing their names and local addresses on the blank lines, it provides prompt return of undelivered letters to the senders, lessens the work of the Division of Dead Letters, and tends to encourage the use of return cards on other mail.”

Listing of items in my collection:

Bristol:  “R.F.D. Route No.....” (1904) Bridport:  “Rural Free Delivery Route No.....” (1903) Hinesburg:  “R.F.D. Route No. 1” (1904) Jericho: “Rural Free Delivery Route No. 2” (1903) Richmond:  “Rural Free Delivery Route No. 1: (1901) West Salisbury:  “Rural Free Delivery Route No. ....” (1904)

Burlington Station No. 4

As the largest population center in Vermont, it’s to be expected that Burlington would have more than one post office to serve its population.  According to Vermont Postal History: The Branches, Stations & CPO of the Green Mountain State (Abajian, Granger, 2000), Burlington has had 32 subsidiary offices since the late 1890s.  

In their 2000 listing, Abajian and Granger noted that six of the offices had no known postal cancels:  Station No. 1 (Elmwood Ave.)(1897-1939), Station No. 2 (1899-1920s), Station No. 2 (Andersons) (1951-1960), Station No. 3 (1916-1927), Station No. 4 (1901-1927), and Station No. 5 (1902-1918).

We can now show a postal marking from Station No. 4, which was located at 1 Church Street.  

Stations such as this probably had no postmarking devices but rather generic Burlington postmarks. However, they did need red concentric cancels for use on official documents, registered mail and other such uses.

The Taxman Cometh

                                              

It seems that taxes are a periennel condition of life as evidenced by this tax notice from 1866.  “all income for the year 1865; also, a list of taxable Carriages, Gold Watches, Piano Fortes, or other Parlor Musical Instruments, Gold and Silver Plate, Billiard Tables--kept for use--Yachets &c., &c.” 

                  

The tax notice was included in this cover from West Charleston to Brownington in May 1866. The two-cent Black Jack was canceled by an inverted “PAID” killer, probably left over from stampless period

Previous owner noted that there is a double transfer and that also a possible triple transfer at the lower right.

 

The previous owner also included this note:  “On July 1, 1862 Congress enacted the first income tax to meet Civil War requirements.  The rate, at first three per cent, was later raised, made progressive for a time and then returned to a propotional ten per cent figure with a 25% late fine in 1865!

(This originally appeared in the August 2013 The Vermont Philatelist, published by the Vermont Philatelic Society.)

Crossroads Stamp Show Purchases

The Crossroads Stamp Show held the 1st Saturday of April and October is usually a great place to find postal history.  Here are two items that I purchased from Vermont postal history dealer, Paul Abajian.

According to an article in The Vermont Philatelist, there are about 4 examples of this wonderful oval known.  The name of the town is in italic letters which is quite unusual.  South Strafford is still post office in Orange County.  Another nice item for my oval collection.

I have a small collection of postmarks showing the VERMONT completely spelled out. And the killer is a nice little fancy cancel also. This example from North Tunbridge, another post office in Orange County, is unusually fancy for such a small town. North Tunbridge existed as a post office from 1853 to 1911.