I have a few Canal Zone Mint stamps. This is my first used on a card. Not much value. Looks like it was mounted in an album for some time. But, a nice clean postmark.
I don't often buy box lots of post cards. But I've been in a dry spell at auctions lately. There just haven't been any philatelic items. So I grabbed a file drawer loaded with old post cards. German, Italian and some U.S.
That is a really nice postcard with a Scott #16 tied with a less commonly seen Culebra postmark. The stamp was issued in 1906 but I cannot see a year date in the postmark. Is there one? It is likely that this card would have been sent while the canal was still under construction - likely by one of the workers or their family members.
Sure enough revcollector, there is something there. It's distorted by the perfs. It actually appears to be, an upside down 1906. Is it possible for the date portion of the cancel, to be upside down?
One of the slugs in the duplex being upside-down is not unheard of. The stamp was issue in 1906, so that year date makes sense. The Canal Zone township of Culebra (which incidentally is the Spanish word for "snake") was all but abandoned shortly after the end of canal construction in 1914-7.
The Canal engineering department had moved to Culebra in 1906 so this postcard photo of the finished Administration Building there was likely made in either 1906 or perhaps a year or two later. The building is no longer standing.
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Posted 06/21/2015 07:19 am
