Every now and again I get an email question from a non-collector about philatelic material they have aquired and know little or nothing about. In most cases the material is worth very little money on the open market. Once in awhile, however, they have come across something of great historical interest.

Trish emailed me to say that she had purchased a leather ladies handbag at a North Carolina antique store. Upon examination of her purchase, she found an old letter hidden away in one of the interior pockets. The letter was dated October, 1918 and contained two "stamps" which she described as follows: "The face has a picture of our Statue of Liberty lady with the Red Cross symbol above her head; to the left it says 'Christmas Greetings"; across the top it says 'American Red Cross'; to the right it says 'Happy New Year"; at the bottom it says '1918'."

Here's the story:

From 1907-1919 the American Red Cross sold perforated, gummed seals to be used on holiday mail. The proceeds from the sales went towards their various charitable works. However, the 1918 seals were not sold. They were presented to charity workers as a reward for their efforts to teach hygiene and sanitation on the World War I homefront and their efforts to combat the rampant tuberculosis plaguing the US.

The seals were mailed in October 1918 to the workers, postage free, in panes of ten, enclosed in a patriotic promotional pamphlet.

My guess is that the original owner of the handbag was a Red Cross worker who received the pane. She probably used eight of the original pane on her holiday mail.

Great work Trish! An original pane of ten is on the way to you as your reward for bringing to light this very interesting historical footnote. Best Regards, Dan