Someone Tried To Pull A Fast One

Someone stuck two 1-cent proprietary stamps on a legal-sized envelope instead of using actual postage stamps.

He or she seems to have intentionally left their return address off of the envelope (the back side is blank). Maybe this was just a coincidence.

The stamps were cancelled on May 2, 1920, but a clerk noticed the incorrect stamps and sent a note to Mr. Jackson, requesting a two cent stamp in order for him to receive his mail.

He must have not been terribly enthusiastic about this item, as it took him a month to get around to coming up with a two cent stamp.

Plus he had to pay to have the stamp mailed to the Gary post office.

The two cent Washington stamp was duly received, attached to the envelope, and then cancelled on June 3, 1920.

Mr. Jackson marked the envelope as received on June 7, 1920.

One can only imagine the conversation that might have then taken place between Mr. Jackson and the sender...

Jim

James,

I wonder if the June 7, 1920 date was applied by the Gary PO as the date on which letter would be removed from their "held for postage" files and forwarded to the dead letter office. It appears on my screen to be the same ink color as the "This is the mail ...." marking to its left. Also, private individuals typically did not mark receiving dates on their mail, nor frequently use rubber stamps. The point being it is easier for the nixie clerks to apply an expiration date to all "held for postage" matter and file it in one alphabetic file. Then periodically review the file for letter which have been unpaid past their hold dates.

That said, I note the 1913 Postal Laws and Regulations volume that such mail should be held for no longer than 2 weeks, unless in a remote part of the country, then no longer than 4 weeks, and an exception of no longer than 6 weeks for territories. Interesting, that if the letter got to the Gary nixie clerk on May 3 (the day after mailing), he marked it at exactly 5 weeks, which doesn't match the regulations.

So looking at the Gary machine cancel more closely ... it appears there is a dash after the 2 of the May 2. Could it be May 24 in the cancel instead? Then June 7 is exactly 2 weeks after the mailing date and the nixie clerk obeyed a 2-week holding as per the regulations by applying a June 7 expiration date. And explains the cover's markings nicely.

Hi John,

Dang, I believe that you are correct.

See below.

Guess I should use a magnifying glass more often.

Jim

I suspect that Mr Jackson was the sender.........

Does anyone else do this? I just googled the Oakland, CA address shown on the envelope. It's now a McDonald's.

I don't normally do that, but I do find it interesting when I'm familiar with the area. I have a postcard from Germany written in Esperanto which was a must-buy item for me because the address was in the same block as my workplace. The property in question (2520 Channing Way, Berkeley) is now the site of a residence hall complex owned by the University of California.

On a related note, a few days ago I searched for my hometown in ebay's Stamps category and found a letter that was sent to my uncle in 1949! My cousin wasn't aware of his father having lived at that particular address (now an apartment complex), but we both remember more distant cousins living there in the '60s and '70s, and my grandparents bought a house on the next street over when they moved to California in 1954.