MailArt from 1942

Comment

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on September 8, 2013 at 4:20am

Thanks, Jazzie. To me, any old envelope with some postal history is very interesting, and, in this one, you get a lovely drawing too. No doubt the info on the back of the envelope could be 'interprreted' by a philatelic code-breaker. My oldest (British) envelope dates back to, I think, 1750 -- almost 100 years before stamps and a proper postal system were introduced. In those days, they had 'minimalist addresses', like "Mr Smith, Solicitor, Liverpool" -- and things got delivered!

Comment by jazzie on September 7, 2013 at 9:23pm

I acquired it from a bookseller in Binghamton, NY a few years ago. He did not know anything about the history of the envelope. Apparently it was cherished but the letter not? as there wasn't anything inside to give the artist credit. The back of the envelope has a sort of mechanical Pennsylvania railcar drawing in pencil with some numbers/figures on it and a Tax Stamp Number on the flap.  Maybe the sender was an engineer or inventor because the lawnmower looks like it's a pushmower with an engine on it. Maybe that was his latest invention?  The street sign on the front says Wayne Ave. which is not the street that Mr. Himrod lived on...

 

 

Comment by Valentine Mark Herman on September 2, 2013 at 12:17pm

Great!

In some of the Postal History stamp auction catalogues I get from Stanley Gibbons, there's occasionally hand-painted envelopes like this going back to about 1890.

Comment by Katerina Nikoltsou (MomKat) on September 2, 2013 at 8:37am

Well, on June 20, 1942, someone in Bradford, Pennsylvania,

sent this to Mr. L.C. Himrod in Binghamton, New York!

Now WHY there is a drawing of a lawn mower/ grass cutter?

Dunno...clever for the address,

pure "mail art"!

Of course the grass cutter is "growling and snarling", so perhaps

this is a letter of complaint to the company that makes it?

1942...before I was born! And postage was only 3 cents!

Nice item in your collection, Ruud.

Comment by Ruud Janssen on September 2, 2013 at 6:12am

What is the story behing this envelope?