1932 Washington Pair Patriotic Cover - Opinions Please

The story starts out simple enough. Pair of 1932 1c Washingtons postmarked on July the 4th of that year from Washington, PA and the postmaster Thomas Jefferson Langfits signs the return part of the address. Also has a nice cachet. So far so good. Now the hard part. The envelope has stuff inside and it is sealed. A bright light shows maybe a magazine or newspaper article. I am dying to see what is inside, but I don't want to break the seal. What to do. Open it, not, other ideas?

Looks like a cacheted cover for July 4, 1932 signed by the Washington< PA postmaster. Local postmaster signing special occasion covers was common at this time.

Sorry Russ. I had a bunch of text to go with this, maybe too much. Will edit and try again.

Interesting cancel where the time stamp is inverted.

The date or time slugs were occasionally inverted or even omitted
Edit: The cancellation is from International Postal Supply Co. Model D-30

It's beautiful and I would resist the temptation to open it.

KirkS

If I resist opening it, does that mean I can start smoking again instead?

The insert is probably just a "filler" to ensure a clean cancellation on the cover. If the flap was unsealed, you could simply take out the contents; if sealed, it is best left alone to insure the quality of the cover remains intact. I have found a number of items included in the "contents" of such dated covers, and most were of no real interest compared to the cover itself.

Will you lie awake nights thinking about opening this letter?

It is like the thump thump of the Tell Tale Heart. I can't hear anything else.

IMHO, If the suspense will drive you to smoking, open it, carefully.

A few years ago I obtained an unopened letter to Guatemala. I had it for many months when the desire to know what was it it won the day. I don't regret having opened it.

marty

i did not think anything interesting ever came from my hometown.
that looks like a great item

thanks for informing me about the post jhlovell