Some News and Views. . .

    Many of you have told us that you find the search features at our web site very helpful. Our sales are very large, and we want you to be able to zero in on the lots in your field. Even if you enjoy browsing every page of the catalogue, you can use the ‘Searches’ page to make sure that you don't miss anything. You can search for countries and topics, as well as entire collecting areas such as 'Postage Dues' with a single click. The ‘South America’ search will find all references to every South American country for you. Just click ‘Power Search’ on our homepage.

    If you have an idea for a new Power Search we would be interested in hearing it.

    Before the Universal Postal Union was formed in 1874, the postal systems of countries around the world did not cooperate to deliver each other's mail. Communicating with family members and conducting business with foreign countries was virtually impossible. Merchants, bankers, and other individuals came to the rescue as forwarding agents. They facilitated the forward progress of mail by arranging for its transfer from one postal system to another.

    An amazing network developed. You could take your international mail to a forwarding agent who was familiar with all of the possible overland and water routes. Agents knew the shipping lines and their schedules so that they could forward overseas mail to the proper port to sail on the next ship that was heading in the right direction. Letters were often signed or handstamped by the agent before they were passed on to the next leg of their journey.

    The formation of the UPU and improvements in postal services made forwarding agents unnecessary by the 1870’s, but they had provided a valuable service. A great deal of information on the subject of forwarding agents is available thanks to British philatelist Kenneth Rowe. He first published the reference book The Forwarding Agents in 1966 with subsequent editions in 1984 and 1996. Ken Rowe was a prominent collector living in Toronto, and I always enjoyed meeting him at our booth at stamp shows. His painstaking research on the subject of forwarding agents continues to benefit philatelists.

    We were fortunate to acquire a portion of the vast collection of Trans-Atlantic mail compiled by James R. Pullin. In Sale #355 you will find many fascinating covers that were carried by sailing ships, some with forwarding agent handstamps. The markings on each cover tell the story of its trip from one side of the Atlantic Ocean to the other. To make it easy for you to find these covers throughout the auction, we have just added a ‘Trans-Atlantic Mail’ button in the green section of the Searches page.