From Amanda to A. Smith June 30 1898

The oldest letter we have is from June 30 1898.  It has a 3-cent stamp on it. The stamp has a profile view of George Washington, and is from the 1851 series of stamps, first issued July 1, 1851.  It has been postmarked with only half of a circular postmark showing -- the other half being off the envelope.

The stamp is in the upper left corner of the envelope.

The address of the envelope is to:

M. A. Smith
Scovil + Mead, Traveling Agent
Nashville,
Tennessee

and in the corner

Care of
Berry + Demoville

The handwriting is in ink, in cursive, and not easy to read.  It seems to lack punctuation and the spelling is not always as we would expect.

The envelope, on the back, has an embossed section and a stain, which presumably was left by a sealing wax stamp, now gone.

The envelope is 13mm wide by 7.2 mm high -- slightly over 5 inches by 2.75 inches.

Inside the envelope is a one page letter, folded in half and then folded roughly in thirds. Laid flat, the paper is 8 inches by 6.25 inches, but is effectively 4 pages, each being 6.25 by 4 inches (front and back).

Looking closely, it seems the paper has a gilt-edge, but being only one sheet, it is hard to tell.

Creating the transcript of the letter, it became clear that just as the stamp being on the left and not the right, and spelling and punctuation being not the same as they currently are, I'm not sure of the order of the text.  There are 4 pages.  Normally, you might expect some flow from one page to another to help guide which page comes first and then next, and so on.  But in this case, each page seems sort of self-defined.

The "front" page starts with the location and date, and a salutation, so it seems like the first page.  The "back" page is only half full and ends with some sort of sign-off, so it must be last.

The two inside pages could be 2 and then 3 or 3 and then 2, but since they don't seem to be clearly one or the other, let us assume it is read like a book, so 2 would be the left page and 3 would be the right.

Starting then, with Page 1.

New york Mills June 30 1898

Dear Friend Albert     yours of
the 21 I have received and rede it
with plesure I hasten to Answer it
I am well but some what tired
to Night but it cheers your friend
Amand to hear from Albert it dose
my very sole Good to receive and
reade letters from Dear Albert for
I hope soon to see and Greet
him I trust it will be A time
long to be remembered with us
if he like to See Each other we are
All well hear at home but Sister
Merceones She is so she can sit
up Some of the time now I
think She will soon be Able to
be Around but not to do any
thing like mark yours truly S A f

Albert your Amand remains
the Same true friend as when you
left her in york state Albert I
think times is some better hear
then thy woar last winter but
we can not tell how long it
will reamin So Albert our
folks dont think that I have
any thouts of Getting Maried
this fall if thy did you would
hear them colde and I do not
know as I shal I can not till
untill I See Albert and have
A taulk with him I hope and
trust what is don it all will be
for the best hope is the stuf
of life Albert be carful of your
mony and your Self to ok home
want to see you Albert Smith
do you know him evr yours SA

Then the line in the middle

keep up your courage and remember Amanda

Albert you wish to know how
Nancy's helth is I think She must
be the Same She could to see the
Doctor hear so Mother said I
presume you will see her if you
like when you come home Sir
Mircini says tell Albert She
is sick but sends her regards
to him Albert I wish you was
hear and we would walk out it
is very plesant this Evening
perhaps you would like to
know how I Amand will
Spend her fourth of July I
shal helpe Mother clean her
house if all is well Albert I
had A strawberry shortcake
for tea would you not like some
yes I think you would it is Good
write Soon my love to your self yours

Albert is your Minde made up
to setle in any place yet or not
pleas let your friend Amanda
know if you pleas Sir Albert
I shal expect to see you by
the first of Ausust if not
befor from your Absent Love
     S. A. Smith this suits
                    Amanda
A Good time
coming I think I had better stope
now Good Night


Again, the spelling, punctuation and even structure of the letter could all be wrong.  It could be my difficulty in reading her cursive, or it could be the difference in the way things were done in 1898.

And what ever happened with Amanda and Albert?  I have no idea.  I can't find anything in an internet search for either, although their names are not very helpful -- not even knowing Amanda's last name, for example.

But we did find some information about "Berry, Demoville & Co" on the web.  Apparently they were a successful "Wholesale Druggist" in Nashville from before 1870.

and they even had a building.

(Theirs is the 3rd building from the right, or second from the right.)

Possibly there would be something in the Census of 1900 for either Albert Smith (or Scovil or Mead) in Nashville or Amanda (with a sister Merceones and/or Nancy and/or Mircini) in New York Mills.

Oh, now we have a fly in the ointment.  There are two "New York Mills" -- one in New York and one in Minnesota.  In 1900, Minnesota had 353 people;  the New York one had 2552 people in 1890 (according to Wikipedia).


Update:  I listed this on eBay, and sold it 1 Dec 2018 for $8.50 plus $6.70 in shipping costs.

Stamps from France

France, like England, has had stamps for a long time.  And like England, they started doing them with images Emperor Napoleon (Napoleon III, not the first Napoleon).  But they quickly ditched that theme and went to more symbolic images.

Our oldest French stamp is from 1878, Scott 92, which shows "Peace and Commerce".

I'm not sure why there is the difference in color.  Since the stamps are over 100 years old, let's just assume one lightened as it aged.

The symbolic theme continues with the 1901 Scott 113 showing "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity",

 This continues with the 1927 Scott 129 showing "Liberty and Peace".

There was a series of stamps called "The Sower" starting in 1903 that lasted decades. Scott 138 is postmarked 1906.

Scott 159, 162, 168 are from 1907, while the slightly more detailed image of Scott 146 is  1926.

Again, we have two stamps that appear to be the same (Scott 168), but differ in color and detail.

We also see this in the 1936 Scott 267 ("Peace with Olive Branch") which certainly seem to be different shades of red.

The 1944 Scott 383 shows an image of Iris.

The 1945 Scott 534 shows an image of Ceres.  Ceres is on stamps all the way back to 1870.

In 1945, there was a series of stamps showing an image of "Marianne", the French national symbol.

A 1954 stamp, Scott 708, shows a "Farm Woman"

Back to Marianne in 1955, Scott 753, 755, 756.

This continues, with Marianne and the Ship of State, in 1959, with Scott 927.  This image was reprinted in 1960 in different colors.

But, again, there seems to be a different printing, variant colors and detail, for the Scott 927.

There is another series of stamps showing the "Coat of Arms" of various French cities.  We have Scott 739 (from Saintonge, 1954), Scott 902 (from Lille, 1958), and Scott 1095 (from Paris, 1965).

France, of course, also has a large number of colonies.  For many of these, France provided postal stamps.  For example, after World War II, France took control of Saarland, an area on the border of Germany and France.  1n 1949, they issued a Saar stamp.

Saar eventually (1955 or so) became a part of Germany (again).

The French occupied, and administered, part of Libya called Fezzan and Ghadames, issuing stamps in 1946.

In terms of colonies, French Equatorial Africa in 1946 issued Scott 166

French Guiana, in 1947 issued Scott 193

French Morocco, in 1947 issued Scott 221.

 Reunion, in 1947, issued Scott 249.

French Polynesia, issued Scott 183 in 1958.

French Southern & Antarctic Territories, had Scott 2 in 1955 (Rockhopper Penguins) and Scott 13 in 1959 (Skuas).

But also, France was occupied by the Germans for much of World War II.  During that time, the Vichy government issued stamps (but apparently not postage stamps) honoring a volunteer regiment that fought against the Russians.

Stamps from The Netherlands

Our first stamp from the Netherlands is from 1898 -- Scott 55, 56, 60.  Not very interesting, just a design and a number for its value.

But at the same time, they were starting to issue stamps of Queen Wilhelmina who was Queen from 1890 to 1948

Scott 65 is from 1898, but Scott 147, 148 are from 1924.

Still there were non-royal images.  Scott 166, 167, 168, 169, 170, 171 (1927) and the later Scott 243C, 243E (1941) is a sea gull.

During the war, there was a strange overprinting of these older designs, such as Scott 227, 228 (1940).

Still Queen Wilhelmina was also on stamps of this period.  Scott 216, 216B, 217, 218 (1940)

Queen Wilhelmina was a popular design, with special stamps on milestone anniversaries of her reign.  Scott 127 (1923), 210 (1938), and 302 (1948).

But there were many other designs too.  1943 saw Scott 245, 246, 247, 248, 251 which were like bas-relief.

There were also stamps more like Old Masters, such as Scott 252, 253 (1944).

But by the end of the war, back to Queen Wilhelmina (Scott 266) and a stamp showing a Rampart Lion (probably representing the Queen) fighting a dragon (representing Germany?), Scott 277 (1945).

By 1946, a very utilitarian set of stamps was issued.  Scott 283, 285.  These were continued in 1953 with Scott 341, 343.

These were very long lasting stamps; we have an envelope with Scott 283, 285 postmarked from 1960, which is about as late as this batch of stamps go.

In 1947, they brought out a new set of stamps of Queen Wilhelmina, Scott 286, 287, 289, 291, 294.

We have one problem with these stamps.  The Scott catalog says that the 6 Cent stamp (Scott 287) is "brown black".  In 1948, it was reissued as "gray blue" (Scott 301).  But we have one that seems sort of in-between.  Maybe it's just a 301 that has darkened with age.

But the trouble with doing stamps of the Queen, is she stops being Queen, and you get a new Queen, and have to change your stamps.  In 1948, Queen Juliana took over. Scott 304.

And by 1949, a whole new set of stamps with Queen Juliana appear. Scott 306, 307, 308, 310, 311, 312, 313.

But they did other things too; for example Scott 323 and 328 in 1950.

But by 1953, they are back with Queen Juliana.  Scott 344, 346.

 Of course, The Netherlands was also one of those European Colonial Powers, so there were colonies, with their own stamps, such as these two, Scott 217 for the Netherlands Antilles (1950) of Queen Juliana, and Scott 22 for the Netherlands New Guinea (1954) on a Bird of Paradise.