Bermuda Special Delivery

OK, I thought this was (somewhat) interesting. Mailed from Bermuda for special delivery to New York City. Both stamps were applied in Bermuda? To get something delivered special from Bermuda in 1936 you needed to bring your own US stamps with you?

My guess is mailed from a ship with the Hamilton Bermuda cancel.

I'd assume, to get the extra service from the U.S.P.O. once the letter arrived in New York, you needed a U.S. stamp, not a Bermuda stamp.

Yes, I thought the same. The interesting thing, though, is that the stamp was applied and accepted/cancelled in Bermuda (perhaps from a ship), which meant it was valid for postage in Bermuda ... no? Just an oddity for nations so close to one another?

At least they got the name right in terms of the addressee of the cover from Bermuda to the US Vitamin Corporation in New York (note the addressee, T.J. Lewis, was the President of the Company back in the day):

I have two thoughts.

It is from a hospital to a vitamin company. If there was a reason why it required special handling, it would be easy enough for the vitamin company to supply a stock of SD stamps to the sender.

I also don't rule out Messrs. Burns and Lewis being fellow philatelists. Upside down stamp, selvage still attached...could be. Create an interesting combination, collect some auxiliary markings. Can't rule that out...

Does the fact that it is handwritten push us toward the latter possibility? Wouldn't a hospital official in Bermuda have had a staff to type up an envelope, if it was official business that warranted SD treatment?

If it is not already painfully obvious, I'm only brainstorming some possibilities.

Actually, I'm sure everyone is right. TJ Lewis was a relative of mine (on Grandma's side), so stamp collecting was in their blood. I have several other examples in my collection from a Doctor or supply house to US Vitamin Corporation - from several different countries. Maybe Grandma convinced Ted (I think it was Ted, or Theodore) to collect as many interesting items as possible.

I saw a reference somewhere recently about this being standard practice at one time, applying US special delivery service in Bermuda for special delivery in the US.

I think the key is the "Fee Claimed..." handstamp, applied in New York. New York got the revenue from the Special Delivery stamp, and provided the service outbound from New York. This is a common marking on 1920s and 1930s covers.

Well, I think that we can prove that. Here is another cover, though sent to TJ at Helena Rubinstein.



This one is definitely typed, and I like how we needed to know that everything was in English.

The same T.J. Lewis who was part of the Elizabeth Arden/Helena Rubinstein feud?

You know, I really wonder if he could hold a job. Here is another cover (front fragment only) from South Africa to TJ Lewis at Elizabeth Arden. One of my relatives was married to Ms Arden, for a short while. Maybe it was him?

DARN IT. WT1 figured it out first...

OK, so Elizabeth Arden, then US Vitamin, then Helena Rubinstein. I should have just figured out where he DIDN'T work.

First name was Thomas ... at least I figured that one out ...

U.S. International Postal Rates, 1872 -1996 by Anthony Wasrukiewicz and Henry Beecher at page 239 :

Also beginning in the July 1932 PG was the announcement that when an article mailed in a foreign country in which there is no special delivery service bore a U.S. Special Delivery stamp in addition to regular postage, such article was to given special delivery service in the U.S. even though special delivery service was not required to be given in the country of origin.

The cover from Bermuda seems to meet the above criteria.

Thanks lorddenning. We kind of went on a different track, but you brought us back to the original question. So it looks like the only way to guarantee a Special Delivery at that time was to add the US stamp at the point of origin. Maybe the local post offices in Bermuda had those US stamps for sale, for just such issues?

Well, I found one more interesting thing in the Rubinstein / Arden collection. While searching through some older France covers, I located the item below. I thought it was interesting at first due to the notation, "Via Lisbonne Clipper" even though it originated in France. However, upon closer examination, I see that it is addressed to Helena Gourielli. Research on that name shows that it was Helena Rubinstein's marriage to Prince Artchil Gourielli-Tchkonia that gave her this surname. (I ought to just start a new thread on Rubinstein / Arden to get everything in one place.)