My guess would be either the addressee or the destination which I can't make out. Strange things happen on Ebay.
I once sold a cover off a stack of 50 identical covers - all #10 envelopes, all with a curved tear in the bottom. I paid another dealer a dollar for it - destination was the Antarctic but otherwise nondescript - it sold for a shade under $200.
Turned out it was a coal stop on the southbound run and no covers were known. The dealer I bought it from put one on a month later and it went for $10. There were only two people who really wanted it, and yet there were still 48 identical covers hanging around - what do you do with them ??
I expect much the same happened here - play with google a bit and the mystery will probably be solved - name, destination, date etc
Perhaps this is the confirmation that we (stampfolk) are really nuts?
Dan C.
Not sure about the recipient but Hilding Thyberg died 1st Dec. 1972 in New Jersey and was born 18th. June 1896. At some time she had applied for Social Security.
Could be a genealogical connection that someone in the family has made or it could be the "rare" inverted stamps and the 5 or so damaged ones, which of course makes them quite unique.
Strangely her last residence is given as Deerfield Beach, Florida, 33441. So maybe it was only her social security that was issued by New Jersey.
Where was it sent to ..... Pravda 3, Czechoslovakia ? Just a shot in the dark - lousy at modern penmanship (such as it is)..l.
Hi,
The address is:
Praha 3
Chelcického 9
that is #9 on the street called Chelcického in Prague.
The second letter "c" in Chelcického is the Czech letter c with a hachek (v-shaped) accent which doesn't show here.
So yes it is indeed Czechoslovakia.
It was sought for being an unusual postal rate and destination I am sure.
Smauggie is correct, this cover has interest to postal historians for its rate usage (air mail, registered).
Whether or not it is $54 worth of interest is debatable. I certainly would not have paid that amount but if you get two postal rate people competing for a missing cover in their collections then $54 becomes feasible.
Don
Even more so when you have FOUR experienced bidders competing for an item. (All bidding after Tom's bid.) And, the winning bidder sniped it. Apparently, his proxy bid was even higher than $54.66.
Going back to the reference to the Antarctica cover it shows that if you fully research every aspect of the cover and publish the findings on your listing you can enhance the value. The key comment here starts "turned out...".If one of the sellers of the remaining covers puts that information in a listing it will pique someone's interest.
Collateral comments might help sell anything. Some people are too lazy to do research. It's all about getting your offering noticed.
Malcolm
just in case it's not clear: PRAHA is the Czech name for PRAGUE
I found it odd that the country name did not appear on the envelope. Americans are not particularly famous for our knowledge of geography.
Anyone else notice it never arrived at its destination? A registered cover would have a receipt cancel on the reverse indicating its arrival at that stage in the registration process.
funnier still.... the ebay listing is wrong: it shows the letter addressed to Sweden, not Czechoslovakia.
I work in Union, NJ... Drive by the Vauxhaul Post Office often.
I'm wondering if the hand written date of 4/24/1961 is the date it arrived in Prague or it was returned? Like David said there is no receiving stamp either Czech or U.S (if returned).
A member of my stamp club has family in what was known as Czechoslovakia. At one of our Show & Tells, he brought in envelopes that his parents sent that were returned because the powers that be didn't like the stamps on the envelopes. I wonder if that may be the case here. Although I believe the stamps on the envelope were the Masaryk Champions of Liberty stamps. There are also no markings on the envelope that this is the case.
My guess is that this went to an Italian buyer for the dramatic use of the Garibaldi stamp, with a destination that was nearby in Czechoslovakia. Likely for a Garibaldi topical collection.
I have several Italian buyers who would pay this kind of money for something that was "right up their alley".
Roy
In my quest for New Jersey postmarks, I came across this one on eBay. Vauxhall, NJ is a substation of Union, NJ and still a current office. I bid $2 on this one, and expected to win uncontested like most of the covers I wind up buying.
Then a funny thing happened! I get the eSnipe "Outbid" notice so I go to investigate. I expected to see I was outbid by a dollar or so but WHAT DA HECK?
There were two guys who just wouldn't let it be! Are these madmen or is there something about this cover I don't see?
re: What Da?
My guess would be either the addressee or the destination which I can't make out. Strange things happen on Ebay.
I once sold a cover off a stack of 50 identical covers - all #10 envelopes, all with a curved tear in the bottom. I paid another dealer a dollar for it - destination was the Antarctic but otherwise nondescript - it sold for a shade under $200.
Turned out it was a coal stop on the southbound run and no covers were known. The dealer I bought it from put one on a month later and it went for $10. There were only two people who really wanted it, and yet there were still 48 identical covers hanging around - what do you do with them ??
I expect much the same happened here - play with google a bit and the mystery will probably be solved - name, destination, date etc
re: What Da?
Perhaps this is the confirmation that we (stampfolk) are really nuts?
Dan C.
re: What Da?
Not sure about the recipient but Hilding Thyberg died 1st Dec. 1972 in New Jersey and was born 18th. June 1896. At some time she had applied for Social Security.
Could be a genealogical connection that someone in the family has made or it could be the "rare" inverted stamps and the 5 or so damaged ones, which of course makes them quite unique.
re: What Da?
Strangely her last residence is given as Deerfield Beach, Florida, 33441. So maybe it was only her social security that was issued by New Jersey.
re: What Da?
Where was it sent to ..... Pravda 3, Czechoslovakia ? Just a shot in the dark - lousy at modern penmanship (such as it is)..l.
re: What Da?
Hi,
The address is:
Praha 3
Chelcického 9
that is #9 on the street called Chelcického in Prague.
The second letter "c" in Chelcického is the Czech letter c with a hachek (v-shaped) accent which doesn't show here.
So yes it is indeed Czechoslovakia.
re: What Da?
It was sought for being an unusual postal rate and destination I am sure.
re: What Da?
Smauggie is correct, this cover has interest to postal historians for its rate usage (air mail, registered).
Whether or not it is $54 worth of interest is debatable. I certainly would not have paid that amount but if you get two postal rate people competing for a missing cover in their collections then $54 becomes feasible.
Don
re: What Da?
Even more so when you have FOUR experienced bidders competing for an item. (All bidding after Tom's bid.) And, the winning bidder sniped it. Apparently, his proxy bid was even higher than $54.66.
re: What Da?
Going back to the reference to the Antarctica cover it shows that if you fully research every aspect of the cover and publish the findings on your listing you can enhance the value. The key comment here starts "turned out...".If one of the sellers of the remaining covers puts that information in a listing it will pique someone's interest.
Collateral comments might help sell anything. Some people are too lazy to do research. It's all about getting your offering noticed.
Malcolm
re: What Da?
just in case it's not clear: PRAHA is the Czech name for PRAGUE
I found it odd that the country name did not appear on the envelope. Americans are not particularly famous for our knowledge of geography.
Anyone else notice it never arrived at its destination? A registered cover would have a receipt cancel on the reverse indicating its arrival at that stage in the registration process.
re: What Da?
funnier still.... the ebay listing is wrong: it shows the letter addressed to Sweden, not Czechoslovakia.
re: What Da?
I work in Union, NJ... Drive by the Vauxhaul Post Office often.
I'm wondering if the hand written date of 4/24/1961 is the date it arrived in Prague or it was returned? Like David said there is no receiving stamp either Czech or U.S (if returned).
A member of my stamp club has family in what was known as Czechoslovakia. At one of our Show & Tells, he brought in envelopes that his parents sent that were returned because the powers that be didn't like the stamps on the envelopes. I wonder if that may be the case here. Although I believe the stamps on the envelope were the Masaryk Champions of Liberty stamps. There are also no markings on the envelope that this is the case.
re: What Da?
My guess is that this went to an Italian buyer for the dramatic use of the Garibaldi stamp, with a destination that was nearby in Czechoslovakia. Likely for a Garibaldi topical collection.
I have several Italian buyers who would pay this kind of money for something that was "right up their alley".
Roy