Ed Siskin spoke at our November 12 meeting on the “Birth of the U.S. Post Office.”  Ed has spoken to us on a number of occasions on Colonial Postal History and, as always, his presentation was both fascinating and informative. Ed first discussed the events of 1774 and Goddard’s efforts toward developing an American post.  He illustrated an early Providence, RI letter (1775) and another letter authorizing an independent postal system in Massachusetts.  He then discussed various Ben Franklin fr...

David Jarrett was our speaker for October, with a showing of his “Classic Illustrated Cameo Covers.”  Over the years, David has formed one of the finest collections of illustrated advertising cameo covers (used mostly during the 1850s and 1860s), with a focus on hotels, factories and other buildings.  The superb condition of each of these covers make this collection even more appealing! These covers reflected a large variety of states and cities.  Some of the large cities were very well repre...

Our speaker for September was Drew Nicholson, on the subject “Dutchess County Small Towns”.  Drew brought a large number of both stamped and stampless covers postmarked in various small towns within Dutchess County, New York.  He also provided the history of many of these towns, some of which no longer exist. Some of the highlights included:  Arthursburgh (less than 15 families); Bull’s Head; Cambellville, Clinton Corners, Clove, Coffins Summit; Crouse’s Store and Crum Elbow. Many of these...

Mike Heller spoke on the topic of “Early Illustrated Lettersheets” at our June meeting.  While illustrated advertising on covers did not really take off until the 1850s (as a result of postal reform and the greater use of lithography), earlier advertising was evident in the form of illustrated content within folded lettersheets.  The collection shown that evening spanned from 1837 to 1859, including both stamped and stampless items. The presentation began with an 1837 stampless cover mailed f...

Dr. Daniel Knowles spoke at our May 14 meeting on the topic "The Effect of the Civil War on the Mails".  Dan talked about the many ways that the war impacted mail service in both the north and south, including: suspension of mail service between the two sides; the demonetization of USA stamps; the initiation of the CSA postal service; the creation of CSA provisionals and then CSA stamps; patriotic envelopes; civilian and POW flag of truce mail; Trans-Mississippi express mail, and in-coming and o...

Our April 9, 2013 meeting was well attended and much enjoyed.  Dan Ryterband discussed and passed around the table 45 Confederate States Postmaster Provisional covers, all in remarkably fresh condition. There were a few "handstamped paids" but almost all of the covers were franked with adhesive stamps. Dan explained that these provisional stamps (usually 5c and 10c denominations, representing the basic Confederate rates) were mostly created and used during the early months of the Civil War, b...

Our March 12 meeting was well attended. Wade Saadi gave a much-appreciated presentation of cancellations on 3¢ 1861 stamps--both on and off cover. The variety was simply enormous and (in the Saadi tradition) the quality of the material was very high. Wade showed us all manner of fancy cancels, arranged more or less in the order they are categorized in the Skinner-Eno book. We saw simple designs, geometrics, various star motifs, figures and heads, initials, letters, numerals, shields, masonics...

Larry Lyons was our speaker for February, showing his very comprehensive collection of Swarts’ City Dispatch Post stamps and covers.  Larry first provided us with a good deal of history behind this local post, which span the years 1847 to 1856. He then showed us many examples of covers that traced Swarts’ business from inception to end. Some of the highlights included:  first use of Swarts’ handstamp (one of two known); local stamps and handstamps used with the five cent 1847 stamp; blue and ...

Our Members’ One-Frame Exhibit was held on January 8 and, as always, was a great success!  This year, we had no less than six members exhibiting part of their collection. Wade Saadi showed a large number of fancy cancels on the three cent 1861 issue on cover.  Some of the fancy cancels displayed included: Waterbury Pumpkin; shields; stars; mortar & pestle; skull; and various letters.  Roger Brody showed many different revenue stamps, including several on their original document.  The stam...