Mick's Blog

Saturday, February 23, 2019

Stuff I Collect - Covers - Oregon Coast - Astoria to Kansas City, 1917

The following is a modification of my post in the US : Covers : General thread in The Stamp Forum (TSF).

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Astoria, Oregon to the W.W. Gavitt Medical Company in Topeka, Kansas. Postmarked 27 February 1917.

This cover has rather a lot going on, and I would appreciate any information or opinions on the various markings. These include:

"A 2 7 17" on the back of the cover. A date? 2/7/17 would be a full 20 days prior to the mailing of the letter.
A large "SV" in blue pencil. Applied by the post office? Any idea what SV would stand for?
"Mar 8 1917" stamp, with "EL" in pen, in the bottom left corner of the envelope. Probably applied by someone at Gavitt, indicating that the letter had been processed.
"A" in pencil on left, under the address.
A couple of larger pencil "A's" (I think, maybe it is a pentagram for all I know).
A few bits of writing in pencil - various numbers, letters, and whatnot.

The sender, Alex Mesford, was born in 1870 in Norway (link), which would make him 47 when he sent this envelope. He became a US Citizen in 1903 (The Morning Astorian, 28 October 1903). Among other things, he was the Astoria representative of the Frisbie Motor Company, which advertised itself as being "the ideal engine for the fisherman" (link), of which there are many in Astoria, Oregon, let me tell you.

It seems that Alex Mesford was something of a fisherman himself, unfortunately not always paying strict attention to the letter of Oregon's fishing laws (The Morning Astorian, 30 September 1905). Naughty lad.

Of W.W. Gavitt and his Medical Co. of Topeka, much has been written. Here is one fun page about him, from the blog Civil War Medicine (and Writing). (The image below is from the same source.)