1890-S Columbian Covers

3c Columbian pays up to 6 oz. 3rd class on this seed catalog mailing. The stamp is as fresh as the day it was printed, and I acquired the cover from a grandson of the addressee so it was never previously on the philatelic market.

wyostamp said,


Nice. I like it. I am in the Detroit area but have never heard of D.M. Ferry seed company.

I have just gotten this cover. It was sent from Chicago. Are these a lot harder to find i.e., ones postmarked from Chicago?

Chicago was the 2nd largest city in the U.S. in the 1890 Census, at nearly 1,100,000. Regular, first class mail from there is abundant, although some markings and uses are uncommon to rare.

John Becker said,


Maybe I should have been more specific. Is a Chicago postmark on a cover with a Columbian stamp more unusual/valuable than other places? I note all the covers posted to this thread are postmarked from places where the Columbian exposition was not held.

Mail postmarked at the Expo will be premium items, but generic Chicago mail sent during this era, no.

The retail value of a cover such as the Chicago one above will be driven more by the illustrated corner card than the stamp or the cancel.

banknoteguy, I poked around a bit and found that D. M. Ferry merged into Ferry-Morse in 1930; they are headquartered in Kentucky.

... and are now owned by a Norwegian conglomerate...

Here are a couple of domestic registered covers. First, a pristine use of the 10c (2c postage + 8c registry) on 1894 business size envelope --

-- then a rather more interesting usage paying (7 x 2c /oz.) postage plus 8c registry fee. Sender Chapman was a Philadelphia coin dealer, and I suppose that this hefty mailing might have been coins sandwiched in cardboard. I'd appreciate hearing what "RD" stands for in the registry ovals.

RD = Registry Division

Here are a couple of my Columbian covers. The strip of 5 is actually 5 individual stamps.

I like the margin half arrow of the 3c purple. According to Scott Specialized Catalogue, four dies were used for these envelopes. This one is Die 2 because there is not a meridian of the globe behind Columbus' head but there are periods after CENT and AMERICA.

Also, 5 stamps AND the envelope is too much color. This one is Die 1 because there is a meridian of the globe behind Columbus' head and there are periods after CENT and AMERICA. And it is addressed to a convent.

This cover is one of my favorites.

Love the Wells-Fargo cover!

mudrat.detector, I like the blue Paris receiver juxtaposed with the brown stamps. As for your other covers ... the more color the better IMHO!

Well I've been away from the office computer (my only one) for some days, but now that I am negotiating "social distancing" issues it's time for another upload or two.

This cover went postage free, per Department of Interior privilege. Privilege did not apply to registration, however, so 8c stamp pays fee for that.

This cover follows protocol opposite to my preceding one. Sent from the Post Office Department, it had to pay postage (for 8 oz. = 16c), but the registry was free. Sorry about the scanner/engraving lines interference pattern!

wyostamp - I agree when it comes to more color is better. Only emphasizing the obvious... I have a couple more interesting ones I may get around to scanning in the next day or two.