If Covers Could Only Talk...1947 NY Exhibition

I recently bought this cover on ebay, primarily because of the exhibition label and poster stamp for the Centenary International Philatelic Exhibition held in New York City from May 17-25, 1947. (I didn't even know what a cinderella was before joing SCF and now I've got dozens of them!)

Sandwiched between the two exhibition-related cinderellas is the U.S. Postage Stamp Centenary Issue (Scott 947) which was issued on the opening day of the exhibition.

As you can see, the cover also has a very nice Artmaster cachet; however, its overall appearance is marred by that ugly strip of brown packing tape that was placed over a previously written address on the cover.



There are several questions I wish the cover could answer. Who prepared the cover and why wasn't it cancelled during the exhibition? Whose address is written underneath that ugly brown swath of tape? Why was it sent to Gimbels' stamp department and what did Gimbels do with the cover once it was received?

And for my SCF colleagues, I'd like to ask if anyone can tell me how to remove the hideous brown packing tape without destroying the cover!

Steve

For those who may not know, Gimbels was once the largest department store chain in the U.S. When it closed in 1987 it had 36 stores. Here is an picture of the store to which the cover was addressed -- according to the store directory posted on The Department Store Museum website, the Stamp and Coin Center was located on the street floor.

Since no one has responded, let me give you my guesses:

1. Who prepared the cover? Probably a staff person at Gimbel's.

2. Why wasn't it cancelled during the exhibition? Probably too late. I suspect the reason for the cover was that they (Gimbel's) acquired a quantity of the poster stamps and had an overstock of the Artmaster cacheted envelopes and thought it would be a nice connection to affix them to a cancelled cover between legitimate first class postage. It certainly makes for a colorful cover.

3. Whose address is written underneath that ugly brown swath of tape? No idea. Are you absolutely sure there is a name written underneath the "ugly brown swath of tape"? I am of the opinion that the brown tape address of Gimbel's was simply the address to where the cover was delivered. Another idea is that they had preaddressed some covers intending to use them for the philatelic event, but didn't ... so the had a surplus stock of the envelopes that would otherwise be trashed if they didn't use them up.

4. Why was it sent to Gimbels' stamp department? As I said earlier, probably prepared by the store as a memento of the Philatelic Exhibition and figured that a cancelled cover with the colorful poster stamps would make for an easy sale to a collector.

5. What did Gimbels do with the cover once it was received? Sold it in their retail stamp department.

6. And for my SCF colleagues, I'd like to ask if anyone can tell me how to remove the hideous brown packing tape without destroying the cover! If memory serves, brown packing tape from the late 1940's would have been water soluable and not self-stick like we use today. My guess is that it would easily soak off in water. However, you want to carefully evaluate whether you want a water damaged cover with the brown packing tape removed versus leaving it alone just "as is". You would also want to be careful not to soak off the stamps if you want to retain the cover as a collectible.

Of course, you could lean the other way, also. You could destroy the cover (since the cancellation seems unrelated to anything and the Artmaster cachet was quite common) and clip and soak the stamps and have three nice specimens for your collection.

Another one of the "no right or wrong way to do it" responses. It is your piece of philatelic history, do with it what makes you happy.

If it were me, I'd leave the cover intact (brown tape and all) as it helps to document the history of all of the elements of that cover put together.

Wt1,

Yes, I'm sure there is another address underneath the brown tape because the left-hand side of the tape wasn't affixed to the cover and I can see portions of the initial letters of two lines of text.

I'll probably end up leaving it as to maintain its postal history.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Steve

Note: Bumped Thread....last Post 6 years ago.

Here you go Steve........all your questions answered, except the brown paper.

On a similar theme "Centenary of Post"
US White Ace Album page.

"Messenger of sympathy and love, consoler of the lonely, bond of the scattered family............."