Covers From Everywhere........

Hello Everyone......

We all know that with unlimited funds anyone could find hundreds of wonderful items listed on-line that would enhance any collection. Most collectors collect on a lesser budget, myself included. I though it might be helpful to show that not all interesting material is expensive.

Not long ago I decided that I'd like to have a cover from everywhere that issued stamps.....close to 300 countries....here's a site that lists 249. http://www.nationsonline.org/onewor...he_world.htm In all probability there will be some, like most of the so-called "Dead countries" that will be almost impossible to find or afford.

My wife's' first reaction was to hide the credit cards. Then I explained that I knew that I could not just buy every cover I like. With that in mind we decided that a limit of $10.00 per cover was reasonable provided I make this a fairly long term project.

My mission was clear....find the best worldwide covers available for $10.00 or less, many I've found have been less than $5.00. You would not believe how many covers I found that fit these parameters. In the first 4-5 days I had well over 100 covers on my watch list. Trying to decide which ones I really wanted has proven to be the most difficult part of the project so far. I'll probably end up with more than one cover from a lot of countries.

Not just any cover will do....I want colorful, interesting, attractive covers. I like registered covers, airmail, odd destinations, older is better most of the time, even a nice clean common cover looks interesting surrounded by all the others.

Here's one of my recent finds......


A well traveled cover in the mail stream 106 days.......posted from Lima, Peru June, 19, 1942.....received in Fort Worth, Texas Oct. 2, 1942 by way of Belfast, Ireland........Sept. 14, 1942 US Army censor cancel & tape.......(paid $5.50 including shipping)

You got a good deal on a interesting and attractive cover!
Nice clear and bold strikes of the various postmarks.

Wow...I admire your resourcefulness. I also like the cover from Peru..it has a lot of mileage in it and a lot of history. I noticed that it was mailed on 1942 ...world war 2 time...so I am sure it is very valuable and also has a lot of sentimental value

Ok, if I can help at some point..let me know..i have a lot of covers ..older commercial that have been through the mails would be closer to a buck or two rather than 5 bucks to a fellow collector..i am never going to make money in this game anyway !

I am not a World Wide collector, but I like the idea around collecting 1 cover from each stamp issueing country. That makes it managable, easy to store, unique to each collector, affordable, and you can tweak your preferences as they change.

You're absolutely right about price not being equivalent to interest. That is a very interesting cover. It's amazing what one can find in the dollar box if one takes the time and pays attention.

Thanks....

....glad to hear ya'll like my idea. It's been nothing but fun since I started. For sometime now I've wanted to have a collection that is just a bit different than most.

Phil.....There's a good chance I'd like a few of your covers, I only have about 40 countries in this collection so far so there is a lot I still need. I prefer pre 1965 but I'm not completely opposed to newer items, I already have a couple. If you find some you think might fit in well send me an email.

Here's another recent find.

Germany to US....21 OCT. 1948 post WW2 from the British Zone, Schleswig-Holstein. (paid $1.99 with shipping)

I think it is rather odd, that a letter sent from the BRITISH zone to AMERICA has a German/FRENCH Airmail-stamp

Anyway, here is a cover from Thailand, sent to the "Allianz" insurrance in Cologne:

That isn't an airmail stamp, it's just a label to indicate the letter is being sent airmail. These labels are generally in the language of the originating country as well as in French.

Sorry, my bad. That was what I meant, I just didn't think of the word "label"
Thanks, something learned again

The thing with the label from the British zone is exactly that, that even though it is from Germany, generally speaking, it still left the British zone, thus an occupied area.
The American barracks here in Germany still count as American soil, where English is the "official" language. Don't know how this was handled back then with larger areas, though.



I got labels without the French part
US covers from the 60ies and 70ies, to be precisely.
Is this somehow "fixed", that the French part has to be there, or is this just "tradition"?

Actually, the official language of the Universal Postal Union is French.

No, the French is not always, there, but WpgLwr's comment explains why
it often is, as opposed to English or another language. "Par Avion" is
what is seen from everywhere when a second language is used.

Here are a few examples of the country's language and French indicating air mail service on a cover. They are in Polish/French, Swedish/French, and English/French.

Hi Folks.....

Even the British use a dual language label on items from Britain.

Here is one of the US covers with the "non-french"-Label

That's some adventure you've taken upon yourself Tom. Hope it's a succesful one.

Great covers everyone

Dianne