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Mrs. Glover was the wife of W. Irving Glover, the person in the Post Office Department during the early 1920s responsible for postage stamps. She would accumulate a wonderful cover collection while he was in office. The Glover children sold the collection in the late 1950s or so. Philip Ward, the philatelic dealer and journalist, apparently came across the collection and wrote about some of Mrs. Glover's Harding Memorial Mourning FDCs in his Mekeel's Weekly Stamp New column of May 25, 1962.
I have been unsuccessfully trying, for several years, to find some trace of the covers. If you are aware of the full set or any one cover in the set, could you please contact me. These covers should not be confused with Mrs. Glover's other Harding covers that do not have black mourning borders.
Following is Ward's article.
On the death of President Harding, the several members of his Cabinet started to use mourning covers for their own official mail. President Coolidge followed the same procedure on White House mail.
When the Harding stamps were first placed on sale, hundreds were mailed on the first day from both Marion, Ohio and Washington, DC.
Mrs. Glover, the wife of the Third Assistant Postmaster General, was interested in stamps, particularly in covers of historical importance, and her husband arranged to have mailed to her on the first day from Marion, one of the mourning covers from the President, as well from each of the Cabinet officers. This is possibly one of the most interesting sets of first day covers existing. They are all postmarked " Marion, Ohio Sept. 1, 1923 - 5 A. M.", which is undoubtedly the earliest hour of postmarking for these first day covers.
They all have black mourning borders 5/16 of an inch wIde with a nicely centered copy of the 2c Harding on each. The one from President Coolidge has a corner card reading "THE WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL BUSINESS PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE $300". The one from the Secretary of State reads "DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON, DC."; the one from the Justice Department, "OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, WASHINGTON, DC."; the one from the Secretary of War reads, "WAR DEPARTMENT WASHINGTON, DC. OFFICIAL BUSINESS",; the one from the Post Office Department reads, "OFFICE OF THE POSTMASTER GENERAL, WASHINGTON, DC OFFICIAL BUSINSS",; another reads "NAVY DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL BUSINESS",; another "SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR WASHINGTON",; another "THE SECRTARY OF AGRICULTURE OFFICIAL BUSINESS",; another, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON",; a further one reads, "DEPARTMENT OF LABOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY WASHINGTON D.C. RETURN AFTER FIVE DAYS". This most interesting series were addressed to Mrs. W. Irving Glover, the Cresmont Inn, Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania.
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Posted 11/25/2025 1:43 pm
