By Reg Morris
Our Society is called the Machine Cancel Society, right? Not Postal Machine Cancel Society, but just plain old Machine Cancel Society. So I guess that any machine cancel is grist for our figurative will.
How about the item below for an interesting non-postal use. The Model K Blue Mountain cancel on the front was the first to catch my eye, but instinct caused me to turn the cover over to find the marking "RECEIVED IN DAILY MAIL GROUP" Marking stuck in red on the reverse, dated Jan 11, 1954.
Received at Daily Mail Machine Marking
It appears the letter was sent to Mr. Herbert Ravenal Sass care of the Saturday Evening Post in Philadelphia. At the very top, there is typed, "opened in error : Curtis Publishing Co. / general mail room / Sorry." The marking on the back in dated January 11, 1954. The typed referral to care of the "Saturday Evening Post" and "Philadelphia, Penn" is crossed out. There is another red marking, this time from a handstamp dater, reading "JAN 18 1954".
The 'Daily Mail Group' is a well-known newspaper in England and probably elsewhere. Were the Saturday Evening Post and the Curtis Publishing Company both affiliate to the Daily Mail Group? And if they were, why did it take so long to move the letter from sender to Herbert Sass?
If the 'Daily Mail Group' mark was indeed a receiving mark, was it applied by the Curtis Publishing Company mailroom or the Saturday Evening Post mail room?
Can anyone explain the chronology and publishing house connections?
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12/16/24, 3:13 PM