628 Griffin honors Civl War ship Monitor & Swedish Flag w/Norse Gokstad-find 621 11/15/08 auction price $373.75 Start Price USD 375.00 Current Price USD 375.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Wednesday, November 26, 2008 End Time Friday, December 26, 2008 Location Midwest USA See more about '628 Griffin honors Civl War ship Monitor & Swedish Flag' Description The Griffin cachet design is made up of an allover design showing the flag of the flag of Sweden, John Ericsson's native country. The text in the cachet notes the unveiling of a Statue honoring Ericsson in Washington, DC on the First Day of Issue of this stamp, May, 29, 1926. John Ericsson designed and built the iron clad ship, the “Monitor”, of the US. Civil War. The “Monitor” defeated the Confederate Military ship, the "Merrimac", a vessel with a somewhat similar armored design. This cover is a scarce early combination FDC has the addition of Sc. 621, the 5c Norse American commemorative. The design of Sc. 621 shows the Gokstad-find built by popular subscription to sale and be shown at the Columbian Exposition in 1893. A ship of this design was use by Leif Ericsson in his early explorations in the about 1,000 years ago. The ship on the 5c Norse American stamp was presented to the Field Museum in Chicago at the close of the 1893 exposition. This H. H. Griffin cachet is truly one of the classics of the earliest years of FDC cachetmaking. The combination with the Norse American stamp ties together John Ericsson and his native land of Sweden, Lief Ericsson and his early explorations and the early Viking Ship (Gokstad-find) and the US Civil War Navy Ship the "Monitor". Herbert H. Griffin, the maker of this cachet, was an avid student of history, as shown by the cachets he made in the late 1920s and early 1930s. He was also one of the earliest combination FDC enthusiasts, making "combo" FDCs on his cachets for the 1926 Sesquicentennial issue and the 1934 Kosciusko issue that I am aware of. The cover has a Via Air Mail marking typed below the address and FD postmarked with a New York, NY G.P.O. hand cancel and is backstamped in San Francisco. It overpays the 20c Air postage rate to San Francisco. The cover is in nice collectable condition with no important stains or tears. It was partially slit open at the top, for about an inch on the left hand top side, not affecting the appearance of the cover. For the sake of total disclosure, there is a small smudge on the front of the cover in the lower left that looks to me like an offset from the hand cancel killer bars of the New York First Day hand cancel. There is a small smudge, hinge remnant on the lower right corner of the back of the envelope. To spite all of the rhetoric it takes to describe these minor faults, this is a scarce and lovely cover to add to any classic FDC collection in the usual condition for a cover that went through the mail during this period and was well cared for in cover collections for over 80 years. Information presented in the lot description comes from "The United States Commemorative Stamps of the 20th Century, Volume 1" by Max Johl, with some proofing help on details from a friend who prefers anonymity. Please check my other listings. During November and December, I will be offering other better classic US FDCs for sale. Barry Newton, PO Box 405, Peninsula, OH 44264, USA. American Philatelic Society Member 73980, American First Day Cover Society Honorary Life Member 17. All items can be returned within 7 days. Buy with confidence. You may pay by the ebay end of auction invoice. FREE Postage to the USA and Canada. Flat rate postage for international sales is $15.00. Items will be shipped internationally by UPS. Paypal is required for international sales For US sales, paypal is preferred. Lots for US shipment paid by check or money will be held for 14 days for payment to clear. Thanks!       * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * For the benefit of any international buyers (or viewers) who may not be acquainted with this item, I wanted to add several comments.   Here is a summary of the place of this FDC in the history of US FDCs.   Cachetmaking was in it’s infancy in 1926 when this cover was made. There are a number of related corner card and postcards known on FDCs for issues earlier than Sept 1, 1923. George Linn, of Linn’s Stamp News fame, prepared what is considered to be the first cachet made for a US FDC (although the Greiss card on the 1909 Hudson Fulton issue can also reasonably lay claim to this distinction).   In 1924 and 1925, there were only a limited number of cachets produced for US FDCs, appearing on the Huguenot Walloon issue of 1924 and the Norse American, Lexington Concord and Woodrow Wilson issues of 1925. In 1926, the Sesquicentennial issue and White Plains issues begat numerous cachets by many new cachetmakers.   In my opinion, this 1926 Ericsson cachet by H.H. Griffin is, in my opinion, the only legitimate cachet made for this US commemorative stamp. I personally believe that the others are probably, but not certainly, cachets that were added to previously uncacheted FDCs.   H.H. Griffin made his first cachet for the U.S. Sesquicentennial commemorative stamp, which was issued 19 days before the Ericsson stamp, and subsequently made a cachet for the White Plains commemorative issued about five months later in 1926. Griffin continued to make cachets for many but not all issues into the mid-1930s.   This cachet has an all over design, something that was an innovation at the time.   The George Linn cachet for US Scott 610 was printed on a mourning envelope, giving it a bit of an all over aspect. Also the 1909 Hudson Fulton postcard FDC (Scott 372) attributed to W.W. Greist certainly has some all-over qualities to the design. Therefore, I won’t call this Griffin design unequivocally the first all over cachet design on a US FDC.   For more information on early US FDCs, you may want to consult the Planty Photo Encyclopedia of Cacheted FDCs. For more information, google “FDC Publishing, Stewartsville, New Jersey” for their web address. These books are available on loan from the American Philatelic Research Library in the USA. (Sorry, I don’t know if there are any copies available in libraries outside of the USA.)   This is a very rare FDC that only comes on the market about once a year. This cover is a consignment item that I held to offer after getting an informed market price from a realization in the James McCusker Auction of 11/15/08. (If you are not familiar with McCusker, google his name for his website address. You can also go to www.AFDCS.org for more information on the American First Day Cover Society.)   Place a Bid!