Interesting US Auxiliary Markings

I did a search for this topic and was surprised to find -- or not find -- a lack of threads devoted to the theme of auxiliary markings, apart from the Return to Sender Pointing Finger project.

I recently came across a number of postcards and covers with many markings I'd never seen before. This seems like a great topic to get started. I'm sure other members have curiosities they can add.

You've heard of mask mandates? Well, here is a box mandate!



This one has a simple Unmailable marking. A peek at the other side shows why. This card was adorned with "tinseling" -- lines of sparkly mica or metal flakes. This created such a headache for the Post Office in injuries and jammed machines that the practice was banned and offending mail was returned or sent to the Dead Letter Office.




This card has a nice circular "Advertised" marking, indicating the recipient's name was published, in hopes of delivery. I don't know whether Unclaimed was applied first or after being advertised.



This cover was the subject of an unsuccessful address search and ultimately returned to sender. I'm curious about what the circular purple marking might be.



Here's one I'm not sure about. It looks like a checklist of City and Rural routes. Since the card has no street address, it appears that it went from route to route in search of the recipient. Can anyone add anything more?



This last one is my favorite. Somehow this card got stuck to another piece of mail, which delayed delivery. What amazed me is that this had to occur often enough to justify making a rubber stamp explaining it!

Hi Greg,
Thanks for starting this thread.
RE: to your NYC 'Not In Directory' cover, more info in Anthony Wawrukiewicz, Thomas Breske, & Scott Steward Stamp Smarter article "Directory Assistance in Readdressing Misdirected Items' located here
https://stampsmarter.org/learning/I...istance.html (Click on 'New York City Deficiency Markings' tab).

Here is one I have


I always wondered how many PO box fires they have to justify a rubber stamp being made for it...
Don

Auxiliary Markings Club

https://www.postal-markings.org/

What Are We?

The Auxiliary Markings Club (AMC) brings together a diverse group of collectors who are interested in the movement of the mails -- especially mail that had problems. The evidence of those problems are the markings applied to envelopes and packages as the mail was processed. They may have to do with inadequate postage, problems with the delivery address, accidents that occurred with planes, trains, ships or trucks carrying the mail, or literally hundreds of other reasons.


[Edit: GregAlex, you scored a fine group of cards not normally found as a group. Well done.]

Thanks Don and PPG for the helpful information! I hope we get a few more members willing to post some interesting stuff. There are a lot of these markings out there.

Good question Don...

Same goes for "Found adhering to the reverese side of another letter addressed to Pittsburgh PA"

Maybe these messages are made up as needed with one of those stamps that have the rubber "type" that you put together messages with. Seems like a lot of work for something a hand written note could convey.

They are clerk or carrier initials.

Consider this card addressed to Marion, Indiana, with the initials "C.P.M." in a circle, run against the employee list in the 1909 "Official Register" = Clie P. Maffet



Again, although not boxed, "Cased by C.R.C." run against the 1911 "Official Register" = C. R. Cooke




And lastly, "A.C.J." run against the 1911 "Official Register" = Arthur C. Jones.



This card also has a wonderful list of city and rural carrier numbers. I do not see any specific reference on handling these in the Postal Laws & Regulations volumes, but I strongly suspect that mail for which the clerks cannot identify the carrier was stamped with the numerical list and left on a common table for each carrier to examine daily. In this case, all carriers checking off within one day, the card ended up at the general delivery unit (where the clerk forgot to change the date in the dater and it is one day behind the machine cancel!), and eventually clerk Jones figured out to forward the card to North Manchester.

The cover in the original post has the initials of a New York city clerk, of which there are many hundreds. A clearer scan of just that mark might help ID the clerk.

(The "Official Register" is more exactly "Official Register, persons in the civil, military, and naval service of the United States, and list of vessels, 1909, Volume II, The Postal Service", issued in odd-numbered years. Volume II covered the post office and ran only through 1911 before being discontinued.)

Fascinating information, John -- thanks for posting all those examples and digging into the official register.

I found this one amusing because they obviously ran out of upper case letters for the rubber stamp and had to use a small "d" in CONdITION.

My favorite - 'IRREGULARITY / DELAYED BY UNUSUAL INCIDENT IN POSTAL SERVICE'.

I wonder what's the 'unusual incident' that resulted in the 13-year delay in delivery (posted Jul 24, 1951, but has a cancellation on the back dated Jul 8, 1964).

Would this be considered an auxiliary marking? War bonds weren't specifically postal business, though they were sold there. This rubber stamp has the appearance of a PO marking -- what are your thoughts?

I would consider the marking 'Do your bit! / BUY A LIBERTY LOAN BOND / Inquire at any bank or post office' an auxiliary marking - it can be found in the listing by the Auxiliary Markings Club (https://www.postal-markings.org/lis...-full.html).

"Do your bit ..."

I can see an argument either way:
Pro: It was applied by postal personnel.
Con: It had absolutely nothing to do with moving the mail, a rate, a fee, a service, a route, a delay, etc.

Regardless of the Auxiliary Markings Club listing, I would be interested in the opinion of an APS accredited judge on whether/how this belongs in a typical exhibit.

I am not sure of my own opinion, I just see two viewpoints.

Perhaps a Government sponsored common target,
Encouraged for the benefit of all.

What did liberty loans do?
Liberty Loans were part of the U.S. government's effort to sell war bonds (also known as Liberty Bonds) during World War I to defray the expense of war. These bonds were issued by the U.S. Treasury.

I came to this thread as the best fit for an item I will show below but first I wanted to clean up an issue which appeared since my last visit:










This answer involves WWI, it was repeated for WWII with different named stamps.

Each postmaster was sent a supply of War Savings Stamps (Listed in the back of the book as WS) The post office personnel was to sell these to the public (a service) to allow the customer to build up a savings book known as a War Savings Certificate. Then the certificate or certificate could be redeemed for a $5 War Savings Certificate Stamp which could in turn be redeemed for a bond or bonds . This was done as part of the postal savings service. The thrift stamps were issued as well but unlike the War Savings Stamps did not pay interest but the plan was to later redeemed the thrift stamps for a $5 WSCS.

The postmaster per operational directive was to sell the stamps, redeem the stamps per the rules and were directed to advertise the stamps and their sale in any manner that would produce results, pushing both the stamps and bonds.

The moneys collected by this service went to the treasury just as did the customs clearance fee and any associated customs duty fees collected by the USPOD.
________________________________________________

Now for my addition:




The marking reads, "Not delivered for want of time. C.K.C. 3"

C.K.C. = C. K. Cassady, likely a realtive to the Asst PM.

(1909 Official Register, vol II)