1925 Limon Costa Rica Registered Cover Question Please

Good morning,
Is the "recorded letter #747" the same as a registration number?
Thanks
David

The post office registration number when mailed appears to be the "117".

The red "76068" is probably the registration number assigned at the Philadelphia post office when it was given to the carrier to deliver to the addressee.

The handwriting on the "Recorded letter 747" appears to match the address, and probably added by the sender. I suspect this is more of an internal letter number ID, perhaps to an entry in a letter copy book.

Mike

mml1942,
very interesting and informative
Thank you
David

Interesting, cover hand stamped...
"From the Franklin D Roosevelt Collection"
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/collect...ght/fdr.html

In 1946, following FDR's death, his family sold his philatelic estate through Harmer Auction. The four FDR stamp sales brought high prices and controversy. Most philatelists wanted to own a piece of the nation's most famous stamp collection, but some argued that the U.S. government actually owned the fabulous holdings of U.S. essays and proofs. Winning bidders in Harmer's FDR auctions could have their purchases marked with a rubber stamp to verify that they came from the president's collection.

I've got a few Estonia covers with this Harmer cachet. Probably adds a few bob to the price if I ever wanted to sell them (a few $/€ to those who don't understand that reference!), and makes for a nice talking point in a display.

rod222, Great link and information, thank you
david

Tim H, I'll bet you 10 smackerinos that no one didn't understand the reference.

Value of the FDR marking: Plus and minus. With so much of the postal history of this registered cover on the back side, I find the FDR marking strongly detracts from its collectability. Many exhibitors would find the cover ruined by the FDR mark. Conversely, an FDR mark applied to the reverse side of a cover with no other backmarks should add interest and modest value.

To give just a tiny sense of the massive amount of mail sent to Roosevelt every day, here is a photo of one of his secretaries sorting just a small part of the letters that were sent to him with donations (typically, one dime) for one of FDR's charity projects - the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Such massive amounts of mail arriving every day for all manner of reasons gives one a sense of proportion as to how common letters addressed to him actually are. The result is that unless a letter is from someone very famous like a head of state, or one of FDR's Cabinet members, mail with that rubber stamp notation that it is from his "collection" provides zero added value, and as John mentions, if it is on the front or otherwise distracts from something interesting about the cover it is a detraction in value.

Hello,
For me it's all about the visual. I collect things simply for the way they look. The first thing that drew me to this cover was the handwriting. Then I saw the reverse side with it's random arrangement of stamps and cancels. It just has a look I can't describe. Some of my favorite pieces have no value whatsoever but they just look so good to me. It may seem an odd way of collecting but it works for me. Each piece is a unique piece of unintentional art that was a part of someones life and I enjoy researching them to find out all the information I can about them. I gain a lot of knowledge posting here and I appreciate all the help I get here,
Thanks
David