What Was In Your Mailbox Today??

Supposedly, I'm going to get my order of stamp mounts today because things have been backing up!

I collect, among other things, postal history and covers related the US Coast Guard. Received a cover related to the Revenue Cutter Service, a precursor to the modern USCG.

An envelope of Great Britain stamps from Rascal's recent giveaway. A good mix of classic and modern, including some nice catalog values. Thank you!!

Received a batch of auction lots today.

An authentic Atoll Post cancellation from Nauru, Marshall Islands. Most of the atoll post cancellations you find are forgeries or philatelic creations, but this one is legitimate.

A piece of a Packet Card used in German Southwest Africa with an unusual cancellation. On the back of the pack card, after it received a Windhuk cancel, an additional 1 Mark stamp was added and cancelled with a currently unrecorded two-line Windhuk rubber cancel. Because the cancel is unknown, there's no way to tell if it's a legitimate but unusual usage from the time, or a modern fabrication.

A Marine-Schiffpost card with a MSP number I didn't yet have in my collection -- MSP 14, then in use aboard the S.M.S. Loreley, a gunboat used as a station tender and aviso in the Constantinople area from 1897-1914.

And finally, this card transported on the Afrikanische Hauptlinie (African Main Line). I bought it because it's a mess, and I like messy postcards. I'm still trying to decipher all the writing on the address side, but it looks like it was sent from Naples to Magdeburg, then apparently returned to Naples, then returned to Magdeburg.

Some low cost US blocks that came from an auction.

Plate imprint strip of 4 Australian Kookaburra

Fabulous ! Never seen before.

I randomly saw this on ebay from a seller I've bought from before. Cattle on stamps are a topical interest and Scott US 292 is iconic in that genre. I worked in the cattle industry most of my career, I've herded cattle in storms, and this stamp has been on my "fantasy bucket list" though I doubted I'd ever own one given the typical price for them. The seller sent me an offer, I bought.

I've never before spent over two figures on any single philatelic purchase, including when I've purchased albums with 6 – 8 thousand stamps in them.

Only 291 and 293 are left to complete the Trans Mississippi series in my collection.

Well done. You probably know, but the picture is actually called The Vanguard and was by John MacWhirter. It features cattle in the Highlands of Scotland, not "the West".

Moneil, I wish you joy with your new stamp.

Thank you GeoffHa for the information, I did not know this. I came across this write up about the stamp's design and its Scottish roots:
https://www.scotiana.com/scottish-p...stage-stamp/

I received a cover bearing one of the so-called "poached egg" stamps from Great Britain. These were printed in 1936 in order to test the new coil vending machines that were being placed in post offices. They were designed to simulate as closely as possible "real" postage stamps, and so they were printed on stamp paper with the current watermark, the correct perforation gauge, and the same color ink as was being used on the current halfpenny definitive stamps. They were never intended to be available to the general public, and were not valid to pay postage. A few examples , however did manage to become available to the public, either by accident (a few copies were left in a vending machine by mistake) or illegally. At the time, there was quite a furore over them and some covers made it through the post office's watchful eye, and there was somewhat of a financial "bubble" where the prices of both individual stamps and covers shot up to very high levels before settling down again. This is probably one such cover, most likely a collector mailing it to himself (the postal code of the post office where it was mailed and the recipient's postal code are the same) and he was careful to add legitimate stamps to pay the actual postage

Received souvenir label sheets for Boston World Stamp Show 2026 in the mail today. The first design and I would like to acquire the entire series as it unfolds.

Nice Postmark. Unlisted in database
Machine with 7 wavy lines
Time at top. Sans Arcs. N11

Received some orders today and I'm pretty satisfied,
I found a Mouchon "mask"