This wonderful magazine was sent to me by a CC fan and avid philal...philatela...stamp collector, Marvin Gardens, who lives on Atlantic Avenue near the B. & O. Railroad. Thanks Marvin! Your check for $7,000 should be arriving soon!
You are assuming that this stamp was in use during Spurgeon's lifetime. Most stamps of real people are issued after they die. The date on the Stamp magazine is August 5, 1933 and there is no date on the Airmail stamp itself! The first official British airmail flight took off on September 9, 1911, at 4:58 p.m. Organized and paid for by the British government, this flight was part of the celebration recognizing the crowning of King George V. Pilot Gustav Hamel flew a 50-horsepower (37-kilowatt) Blériot monoplane from London Hendon Aerodrome 20 miles (32 kilometers) to Windsor Castle, carrying 23.5 pounds (10.6 kilograms) of mail. During the next two weeks, two other pilots flew 19 more flights between the same airfields in a Farman II airplane. So this must have been issued sometime after 1911 when the airmail was in full flight.
Well, I'm the doofus here. It is obvious that this is a United States stamp. It is not in pence or shillings but cents. If I would have read INSIDE the issue I would have noticed that the reason for the rarity is that only ONE HUNDRED were printed! In 1929, Lamont Quinn Martin, began printing these stamps. Two minutes later, the machine imploded, destroying the original plates. Three days later, a man by the name of Lockheed J. Finneyman, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to stamp out stamp machines. He was sentenced to five years on Rhode Island.
Especially amazing since the only air mail in his day were carrier pigeons.
ReplyDeleteCalvinistic stamps take a licking and keep on sticking!
ReplyDeleteSam, that is where the old saying,
ReplyDelete"The bigger the package, the bigger the bird" comes from.
--the saying is so old you probably never heard of it.
Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
ReplyDelete@Samwise:
ReplyDeleteAfrican or European?
The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?
ReplyDeleteIt's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound air mail.
You are assuming that this stamp was in use during Spurgeon's lifetime. Most stamps of real people are issued after they die. The date on the Stamp magazine is August 5, 1933 and there is no date on the Airmail stamp itself!
ReplyDeleteThe first official British airmail flight took off on September 9, 1911, at 4:58 p.m. Organized and paid for by the British government, this flight was part of the celebration recognizing the crowning of King George V. Pilot Gustav Hamel flew a 50-horsepower (37-kilowatt) Blériot monoplane from London Hendon Aerodrome 20 miles (32 kilometers) to Windsor Castle, carrying 23.5 pounds (10.6 kilograms) of mail. During the next two weeks, two other pilots flew 19 more flights between the same airfields in a Farman II airplane.
So this must have been issued sometime after 1911 when the airmail was in full flight.
(I'm talkin' like this is real)
ReplyDelete...what a maroon I am...
Please, please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion!
ReplyDeleteLet's not bicker and argue about who issued who.
We are here today to celebrate the Spurgeon egg fund!
Well, I'm the doofus here. It is obvious that this is a United States stamp. It is not in pence or shillings but cents. If I would have read INSIDE the issue I would have noticed that the reason for the rarity is that only ONE HUNDRED were printed! In 1929, Lamont Quinn Martin, began printing these stamps. Two minutes later, the machine imploded, destroying the original plates. Three days later, a man by the name of Lockheed J. Finneyman, was arrested and charged with conspiracy to stamp out stamp machines. He was sentenced to five years on Rhode Island.
ReplyDeleteRhode Island! How cruel and unusual!
ReplyDeleteAt least a mob didn't come for a lynching! Then we might have another Mormonism plaguing the church! No wait...maybe we do in Finneyism....?