Our May 13 meeting featured four speakers, Scott Trepel, Dan Knowles, Wade Saadi and Michael Heller, on the topic: “Long Island – Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk postal history.” Dan Knowles presented a number of very early letters sent to or from Sag Harbor, starting with a 1708 letter from South Hampton, perhaps the earliest known letter from Long Island.  One of the most fascinating ite...

Our March speaker was Larry Lyons, on the topic: “1847 Covers taken to the Post Office by Local Post”.  Larry began his talk with a review of the number of known five cent (310) and ten cent (28) 1847 issue covers with local stamps or handstamps.  He noted that most of these covers were mailed either from New York City or Philadelphia. He then showed many such covers with a variety of different...

Dan Ryterband, our April speaker, brought a comprehensive group of material to illustrate his talk: “1847 Stamps and Covers”.  This included five cent and ten cent 1847 issue stamps with interesting cancels and many covers showing a wide variety of postal markings.  Most importantly, virtually all stamps and covers were in pristine condition, usually with four-margin stamps. Some of the highlig...

Michael Heller was the speaker at the February 11 meeting, on the topic of “19th Century New York City, Illustrated.”  The main focus was on illustrated advertising covers that depicted various NYC hotels and businesses throughout the borough of Manhattan during the 1800s. The talk started with a couple of “cameo” covers from the 1850s and 1860s, including an unusual one that had cameo advertis...

Our January meeting was the ever-popular Members One-Frame exhibit and we had a very nice turnout of members that evening.  Presentations that evening included: Roger Brody exhibited varieties of the 1902 Series stamps.  This exhibit included: plate printer initials; transfer relief breaks; paper folds; perforation varieties including rouletting; printer’s waste examples and watermark and other...

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 a...

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 c...

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; C...

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, includi...

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...

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 t...

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...

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’ han...

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...