Newest Acquisition- Special Delivery & Foreign Dest. Rate

Nice covers indeed. If I may ask, in general, do you obtain most via ebay or from visiting local sources? If local, do you tend to find them in the ephemera area of antique outlets? or estate sales? John

Actually from a few different sources, mostly online but those two above was from ebay. I also enjoy rifeling through the "dollar boxes/bins" in our two local antique shops. They have have hordes of covers and the owners aren't stamp collectors! I did notice however that everything that is adorned with a swastika is all locked up in a glass case...eerie.

Thanks, I may have to make a day of it and make the rounds of the local antique establishments. Well, maybe a week of it, I think Southern Pennsy may be the antique store/mall capital of America. A shoebox of covers can be tough to spot when covering those places, maybe I'll take the cowards way out and just ask! John

Antique stores can really be a hit or miss and there's usually more misses than hits. I've hit any of the antique stores in New York, Vermont, Western Massachusetts and a few other places and usually the best you'll find are postcards with some interesting postmarks and an occasionl nice stamp from a foreign country.

Most antique dealers know little to nothing about stamps or covers and quite a few will grossly overprice them. A lot of dealers don't even like to deal in any form of paper, but occasionly you'll find a nice one. It will be quite the hunt. Don't fear in asking the dealer if they have any "hidden" collections as some don't like to put them out or so disorganized and cluttered that they really don't know what they have anymore.

Most antiques dealers keep lists of local guys with permanent wants such as philitelic material, coins, old fountain pens, military items, old watches, old guitars, etc. etc. and offer everything to them before they put it in their stores or their stands at a flea market. Those private relationships are where dealers make most of their money. So by the time a dealer puts something out for the general public to see and buy it has been cherry picked by knowledgeable collectors in those areas.

Right Kimo that's basically what I have going on with our local antique shops. They do like printed matter usually only if it relates to one of the Word War's or the pan pacific "goings on" but small collections sometimes end up in their clutches and usually I get a call to come look at it. I took a catalog over to show him once and I seen the cartoon like dollar signs pop up in his eye sockets...mistake? probably. But I explained to him about the real-world prices and you could see the crash...lol So he'll cut me a deal (yeah I know better..) on something if I see it.

Can anyone read the person and address on that first cover? I'd really like to know. Thank you.

All I can make out with any kind of certainty is:
49 Palace ?? Addison Bridge London England

Here you go, mate:

Mrs. D'Arcy Y.(?) Roper
49 Palace Mansions
Addison Bridge
Kensington West
London
England

You can look it up on google to see a photo of what that part of the city looks like - it is a large low rise apartment building.

Wow Thank you VERY VERY much! I just couldn't do it for some reason? Usually I can get close but no cigar this time! Again, Thanks! -Jeff