1933 Century Of Progress

Is this cover, considered a First Day Cover? I checked my Scotts, and it states that the stamp was issued on Sept. 27, 1933

Thanks

Bob, per my Scott 2001 US Specialize and Scott 2008 Classic, both list the issue date as May 25, 1933 for the perf version. The imperf version was issued Aug 25, 1933. Therefore, your cover would be an event cover, postmarked on the opening day of the Expo. Mike in NYC / meostamps

Thank you Mike

Here's an unusual Century of Progress cancel. The cachet on this cover is nearly totally faded, but it relates to the USS Akron blimp, which doesn't seem to tie-in with the cancel. Anyone know more about the Rwy. Postal Car Exhibit at the Fair?

I believe that this cancel marked the terminal stop of the Burlington Zephyr on its nonstop trip (Denver to Chicago) to the Century of Progress Exposition. It also was used during the Exposition to make philatelic souvenirs during the event.

Perhaps some of our postal historians can verify if this is correct.
Don

I like that train photo postcard Don.

Thanks for that info, Don. So my 1933 cover was the first year of the fair, before the Zephyr arrived in 1934.

Hi Greg,
I am unsure of the full scope of usage at the Exposition, hopefully someone will weigh in who has deeper knowledge then me.
Don

Since some of you like the Zephyr, here's a great piece of philatelic history.

Take a look not just at the card, but who it is sent to and who it is from...

This is also cacheted as being the first run of the Zephyr.

Hi Greg. The USS Akron was not a blimp, it was a dirigible with a rigid duralumin airframe (a Zeppelin). Sadly it had crashed before the Century of Progress fair opened - it went down on April 4, 1933 and your cachet is memorializing its loss. There were two blimps at the Fair, the Pilgrim and the Reliance and both were used to give paying passengers a short in the air above the fair. Blimps do not have an internal rigid framework - they hold their shape by the internal inflation pressure with helium gas. There was an even more famous Zeppelin at the fair, though it only landed for two hours at a nearby airfield - it was the famous German airship, the Graf Zeppelin that was passing by in October of 1933. It picked up a load of first flight covers at the fair dated October 28, 1933, most of which weres stamped with the special US 50 cent zeppelin stamp, C-18 that was issued on October 2 for the Graf's "Century of Progress Flight".

Here's one of those covers Kimo was referring to.





The signatures on the cover are the German flight crew for the Graf Zeppelin.

The October 28 date was for the mail leaving the Century of Progress. This cover was properly dated Oct 25 when the Zeppelin left Akron. It is dated on the reverse with the Oct 26 date when it entered the normal mails and was sent to the addressee in Chicago.

I am still searching for a an image of the Postal Car Exhibit. I do own this postcard, it show the Burlington RPO and was a part of the railroad section of the Fair.


Here is another card which shows the railroad section of the fair, but was the postal car exhibit located here? I suspect it was as shown here


The railroad section of the Fair was located here


But the remaining question is were cancels being applied at the Postal Car Exhibit or were they applied at the special fair Philatelic Agency building?

The Century of Progress commemorative stamps were first issued a few days before the official fair opening (sold starting May 25, 1933 at the main post office at Chicago, Ill.). The Fair and Philatelic Agency officially opened on May 27.

An interesting "Fair fact", shortly after opening (between June to November) there was an outbreak of amoebic dysentery at the Fair. Over 1000 cases were reported and almost 100 people actually died. A guy named Joel Connolly, who worked for the Chicago Bureau of Sanitary Engineering, finally resolved the problem and ended the outbreak.

He overcovered 'defective plumbing' that was permitting sewage to contaminate the drinking water in two hotels. Yikes!
Don

United States
Advertising Ephemera (Baggage Label?)
The Zephyr
Zephyr : a gentle, mild breeze.
Burlington Route.
Thematic : Locomotives.

The previous reference to the railway car cancel got me looking a bit deeper into this one.

"Chicago Welcomes the Italian Air Fleet...."

Under the cachet says "Travel and Transportation Building Escorted by American Airways, Inc."

(not mine)


American Airlines was developed from a conglomeration of 82 small airlines through acquisitions in 1930 and reorganizations; initially, American Airways was a common brand used by a number of independent carriers.
In 1934 American Airways Company was acquired by E. L. Cord, who renamed it "American Air Lines".

I wonder how one would go about getting a particular cachet/cancel, or could you just buy them as is?
No receiving marks anywhere, so don't really know how it traveled (or if it traveled other than back home with the purchaser.
Pat


The "Italian Air Armada" seemed to be pretty big deal at the time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decennial_Air_Cruise


I wondered why the cachet had 1833-1933 on it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Chicago