Way To Go USPS !

While browsing through the couple of Hundred PC's I own I came across this one from Italy. On the front, a beautiful painting



Only to turn it over and see this

water damage perhaps?

That is hilarious! The only true damage being the sticker placed over the legible message on the postcard.

________________________________
Though technically, at that time, there was no USPS, only the Post Office Department.

Very nice find. Never seen that local postal label before.

Since it appears to be preprinted, I wonder if they had lots of damage mail in the pneumatic tube system.

Apparently there is more to this story than I thought when I found it. From what I have been told on another forum I frequent is that this pre-dates the USPS,and it was known as POD and that pneumatic post items are highly collectible and that this unique piece could command as high or higher than $20.00, which for a postcard is excellent.
So it looks as if I have more research to do.

I found this link to a very interesting article on the pneumatic tube system.

http://www.usps.com/postalhistory/_...ubes2-09.pdf

In response to this quote:




I'd venture to guess it oculd have been OIL damage. See page 8 of the above link where reference is made to common damage to pneumatic mail pieces due to "oil and dampness".

Thank you for posting that WT1, what a great read and something I never even knew existed until this morning when I found that Postcard.

Research wizards needed ! After chasing information on this for a few weeks I've kind of hit a snag. The scan of this piece made it all the way to the Smithsonian national postal museum and through the emails of a few of the leading experts on Mail labels only to draw a blank. Marvin Murray with the National Postal museum gave me a couple of contacts which I emailed this to, and they both had the same response, it's very, very, rare. The 2 leading experts on Pneumatic Post items, Roger Brody and David Straight both were forwarded the scan of this item and I have not heard back from either of them. All the other experts have stated that they have never seen one of these, only heard about them. I am trying to find any reference as to when the last reported sighting of one of these was and I've drawn a blank, I don't care if it was in a n auction or a magazine article, I just want to know when the last sighting of one of these was. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I've googled every possible combination of words I can think of, and still nothing.

Unfortunately, I have nothing to add to your search for info, but your post got me intrigued about the American pneumatic post system, something I didn't know anything about. I found this PDF article on the USPS Postal History page. (EDIT - oops! same link as provided already by wt1.)

http://www.usps.com/postalhistory/_...ubes2-09.pdf

Fascinating! An especially surprising point was that the first pneumatic mail system was originally somewhat of a ruse for constructing a pneumatic subway. By creating a vacuum at the front of the train, it would be propelled along inside the tube. Alfred Beach had a plan to construct such a thing in New York City but met political resistance, so he started off with a pneumatic mail system and later on tried to get his permits expanded for "larger" tubes. ha ha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Beach

And to go off-tangent even further, how about this song by Klaatu, one of my favourite Canadian bands? They were a group of musicians from Toronto who spent endless time in the studio and released an album with no personal information whatsoever about the musicians, to the point where even the record execs didn't know who was in the band. A DJ in the States decided it was in fact The Beatles who had recorded this, and this spawned a huge Klaatu = Beatles rumour (which resulted in far greater record sales, of course). "Sub-Rosa Subway" was a song about Alfred Beach's pneumatic subway and was one of the tracks with many alleged Beatles "clues".

"Back in 1870
Just beneath the Great White Way
Alfred Beach worked secretly
Risking all to ride a dream
His wind machine"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsVD6IqDvy4

Ryan

I don't know if anyone thought to check the internet about the Boston Postmaster named in the label on the scanned post card. George A. Hibbard was actually Mayor of Boston for 2 years but died in 1910 (at the young age of 45), which would mean that the PC shown would have had to have been posted on or prior to 1908.

Here's the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_A._Hibbard

I have a 2nd postcard that is done by the same artist





So I can pretty much book it for 1904. Both Postcards were sent to a family member and I would bet they were sent within a few weeks / Months of each other. 1904 fits the timeline for Hibbard being postmaster. I have searched everywhere I can think of and googled every combination of associated words dealing with this item and checked most of the major auction houses but I'm unable to find another. Surely this can't be the last one in existence.

Stallzer, that is a great piece of US postal history. The pneumatic mail system was approved my congression act on July 13, 1892. The first operational test was in Philadelphia on March 1, 1893 with the capsule taking a .58 mile trip. The second operational system was in New York on Oct 18, 1897. Systems were installed in Boston, Chicago and St. Louis (I don't know the dates). The systems in all cities were shut down in 1919. New York resumed operation in 1922, Boston in 1926, I don't know the dates for the other cities.
On Dec 13, 1953 all pneumatic mail operations were discontinued. The main reason was DAMAGE, mail would become damp and capsules would open in the tubes.


These are some of the capsules that caried the mail.


The employees that loaded the capsules into the tubes were called "Rocketeers".


These are some pictures of the New York system

I just love it when Russ brings out his
b&w history prints.

Stallzer, I have been unable to find any info on your damaged letter label but I found this image of a cover with a Chicago M.Western Tube Station cancel

Nice one Russ. I too have not been able to find anything, and the only site that yielded a match www.postalmarkings.org is down or not working. I'm beginning to think that there might not be many of these left intact and hopefully I'm sitting on something rarer than I thought, which is a very good thing. Being as my hobby needs to be self supportive and I have my eyes on a piece that I really want, I might just toss this up on www.ebay.com/b/260/" rel="nofollow">ebay for some outrageous amount and see if I get any takers.