Today in Postal History


  Uruguay Domestic Usage
August 24, 1925

This is an interesting pair of registered airmail covers.
The one at the top was mailed from Montevideo to Florida on August 24.
Florida is the capital of the province of Florida about 90 km north of Montevideo.
The one below was mailed from Florida to Montevideo on August 25.

The sender marked each cover Correo Aereo.
The occasion was to honor the 100th anniversary of the Assembly of Florida.

The franking for both covers is from the 1924 southern lapwing series.
The Montevideo cover has a single 36 c. salmon and the
Florida cover has a pair of 8 c. pink and a single 20 c. brown.

In addition, each cover has a stamp from the 14 c. blue and black
special commemorative airmail issue of August 24 (Scott C7 and C8).
The one affixed to the Montevideo cover is inscribed Montevideo.
Similarly, the Florida cover has the stamp inscribed Florida.

Registration was noted by use of a preprinted label on each cover.
Each cover was given a local CDS which tied the registry label.
The cover from Montevideo is definitely postmarked on August 24.
The cover from Florida to Montevideo appears to also have an August 24 cancel.
This suggests that both covers are First Day covers.

Scott says of these stamps:

   These stamps were used only on Aug. 25, 1925, the cent. of the Assembly of Florida, on letters intended to be carried by airplane between Montevideo and Florida, a town 60 miles north.  The stamps were not delivered to the public but were affixed to the letter and cancelled by post office clerks.  Later uncanceled copies came on the market.
    One authority believes Nos. C7-C8 served as registration stamps on these two attempted special flights

Each cover also was stamped with a commemorative
red double oval which was used to cancel the stamps.
The inner text is 1825 | ??? [related to the assembly?] | 1925.
I cannot read the text at the top.
The text at the bottom was Montevideo for one and Florida for the other.

The cover from Montevideo to Florida has a
Florida receiving mark of August 25 on the back.
The cover from Florida to Montevideo has two Montevideo
registry receivers dated August 25 on the back.

This is an interesting pair of near identical covers which provides
the complete story for one short episode of postal history.

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