I believe the signatures on the scanned covers are that of the cachetmaker, C. Stephen Anderson, who was a very popular cachetmaker back in the day. In fact, here's a brief biography on him and his cachets:
Quote:
About Anderson Cachets [Revised 7/9/11]
Charles Stephen Anderson enjoyed a successful career as a Cachetmaker for 47 years under the trade name Anderson Historical Envelopes, employing a series of 3rd party Servicers (Wallace Ilsley, Athol Cliff and Gladys Jackson) to handle his FDC servicing operations. Anderson operated for 33 years in West Orange, Essex County NJ from 1932 to 1965, and 14 years in Northern California from 1965 to 1978. (Boyajian, 2002, p. 1). Anderson's address in West Orange NJ was 54 Wellington Ave., West Orange NJ, from an advertisement for "A U.S. Commemorative Map" stamped on the reverse side of the First Anderson Cachet #726-13, Feb 12, 1933. (Check out Google Maps for a Scan of 54 Wellington Ave, West Orange NJ today).
C. S. Anderson (as he was known) was born in Harrisburg PA 1/4/1896. He attended Technical High School and graduated from Gettysburg College in 1919 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. On 12/25/19 he married Pauline Hauck, also a Harrisburg resident. (Id., p. 1).
Anderson's first commercial philatelic venture was a successful Commemorative Map of the U.S. showing the location and information about commemorative stamps issued through the Fall of 1932, which sold 2000 copies before Christmas. (Id., p. 1) Being unemployed at the time, he decided to try his hand at FDCs, and produced his First Cachet, #726-13, 3c Georgia Bicentennial, issued 2/12/33 (Monty et al., First Cachets Revealed, 2006, p. 40). That First Cachet identifies Anderson's location by small type along the bottom edge: "Published by C Stephen Anderson, West Orange, NJ." (Mellone,Planty Vol. V, 1995, p. 26), and carries the black RS advertisement of his US Commemorative Map with his 54 Wellington Ave., West Orange NJ address.
According to Boyajian, Anderson landed an engineering job just as the cachet line was being established, which almost ended his FDC cachet career prematurely. One of his cachet subscribers, H. Wallace Ilsley, needed a job, and Anderson finally agreed to continue producing cachets part time while travelling for his new job, with Ilsley handling the Servicing of Anderson FDCs. In 1934 on a #737-35 3c Mothers Day 5/2/34, Ilsley Stamp & Cover Service had an address of 41 Halsey St., Newark, NJ.
This arrangement continued until Ilsley went off to World War II, when Ilsley sold his FDC servicing business to one of his employees, Mr. Athol Cliff, at the time a teacher in the Irvington (Essex County) NJ public school system and a part-time stamp dealer with his brother on Millburn Ave, Millburn NJ. Athol Cliff ran the FDC business part-time from his home at 6 Bodwell Terrace, Millburn NJ, while his wife did the necessary traveling for the servicing of the FDCs at the post offices. (Boyajian, 2002, p. 1).
(As a side note, after Athol Cliff retired from his Irvington NJ teaching job, he later took over the Cachet Craft brand, beginning with #1021-6, Commodore Perry, issued 7/14/53. See Monty et al., First Cachets Revealed, 2006, p. 85).
At age 65, C.S. Anderson retired from his engineering job in 1961, and he and his wife Pauline enjoyed extensive global travel, while Anderson continued to produce cachets for new issues for Athol Cliff to service. After Athol Cliff sold his servicing business and retired to Florida in the 1960s, Gladys Jackson continued servicing Anderson's cachets. Around 1965 the Andersons retired to Northern California, and continued to produce FDC cachets that were serviced by Gladys Jackson until C.S. Anderson's death in 1978. (Boyajian, 2002, p. 1). Anderson's Last Cachet was #1771, 15c Martin Luther King, issued 1/13/79 (Monty et al., First Cachets Revealed, 2006, p. 40).
References
Boyajian, A., The Cachets of C S Anderson, Sidney, OH: Amos Press, Inc. dba Scott Publishing Co., 2002.
Mellone, M.A., Mellone's Planty Photo Encyclopedia of Cacheted First Day Covers, Vol. V – 1932-1933, Stewartsville, NJ: FDC Publishing Co., 1995 (herein "Mellone,Planty Vol. V, 1995").
Monty, R.A., Doyle, W.L., Goodson, M.W. and Elrod, N.L., Mellone's First Day Cover Encyclopedia of First Cachets Revealed 1923-2005, 2006 Professional Reference Edition, Stewartsville, NJ: FDC Publishing Co., 2006 (herein "Monty et al., First Cachets Revealed, 2006").
Posted 12/18/2011 3:29 pm
