Ve Day Cover With Metered Postmarks--Legit?

I haven't seen many WWII patriotic covers with metered postmarks, like the following:

How easy would it be to backdate a metered postmark? I don't think that's the case here -- Runge was a well known publisher of WWII patriotics -- but I'm still curious.

Also, what does the 1 1/2 cent rate signify? Obviously, I know next to nothing about metered rates. The rate for 1st class mail at the time was 2 cents, so I presume this is some kind of bulk rate or quantity discount. Is there a standard source for historical metered rates I could check this out with?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Basil

Third-class mail would account for the 1 1/2 cent rate I presume. The VE DAY part of the cachet appears to have been added at a different time than the rest of the cachet.

I hadn't looked closely enough to notice that the VE DAY part of the cachet may have been added. I think you are right. Sherman lists a Runge "Gen. Marshall" cover as #2461, and "VE Day / Gen. Marshall" as #8319. So this is the latter, with the VE DAY added to the earlier cover. The third class rate was 1 1/2 cents at that time, so you may be right about that, too.

Thanks.

Basil

As you have figured out, this is single-piece 3rd class rate - just like using a Martha Washington prexie. Such rates are all covered in the Beecher-Wawrukiewicz "U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-1999", an extremely useful reference.

While these meters could be turned-back, this is a "PO" meter (noted on either side of the date), so zero chance of a postal employee backdating it. Very nice touch they used the Zip code forerunner of "Cleveland 15, Ohio" in the address to match the meter's slogan.

Quite possibly this is a Mail-O-Mat meter. They were an early attempt at automation, self-service, coin operated machines placed in the lobbies of larger post offices. The PO in the dial and period of use suggests Mail-O-Mat to me.

Very similar to this Mailomat meter. Mailomats were in use starting 1939.

Here's another Runge creation: http://arago.si.edu/record_90371_img_1.html

I can't say I understand it.

It is interesting is see that the Mailomat post card from Portland, Oregon has "First Day Cover" dated June 17, 1948, and the Cleveland, Ohio cover has a Mailomat postmark of May 8, 1945. Three (3) years earlier!

Did the installation of a Mailomat machine in an individual Post Office result in a different First Day Cover for each Post Office?

- stamporator -

Are we certain the Cleveland cover is a Mailomat?

Yes. Even back then, the Post Office "catered" to collectors.

Looks like a Mailomat to me too. Willam K. Thomas' 1962 book "History and Evolution of Metered Postage" has a chapter on Mailomat which notes serial numbers on the standard Mailomat machines in the 51001+ series and being installed gradually over a span of years. So first days would vary by city as machines were installed.

I don't really understand how degrading/confusing the meaning of First Day Cover assists collectors at all. (But I'm old-fashioned.)

I agree, at times I as well am at a loss.

Regards,
Stampalotapus

Very nice cover. While some collectors frown on meters, I still believe that they are gaining popularity. Many countries are issuing very attractive meters and I think that they are quite collectible. Getting a meter used on either VE or VJ Day would be a bonus.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I've previously speculated about how event covers such as VE Day, Hiroshima and VJ Day were created when, unlike typical first day covers, there was no notice ahead of time. Here I would surmise that when Runge realized learned of Germany's surrender, he took a bunch of existing patriotic covers to the PO, had them postmarked at a Mailomat, and then subsequently added the bit at the top stating VE DAY.

Thanks for all the help. I've gone and snagged a copy of "History and Evolution of Metered Postage" on ebay, so that will help fill in my lack of knowledge on the subject.

FWIW, this is one of a set of six I acquired, each with a different WWII leader:

Roosevelt
Churchill
Field Marshall Montgomery
Charles De Gaulle
Gen. Marshall
Marshall Timoshenko

Sherman lists the first five of these. The last, "Marshall" Timoshenko, is not listed in Sherman. The misspelling is Runge's (as a military title, it should be "Marshal"). Sherman lists one other, for Eisenhower, that was not in the set that I acquired.

All have the same VE Day metered postmark.

I wonder why Runge used the Mailomat. Do you think the postal employees wouldn't want to be bothered?