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Product Description
These coffee mugs were designed by Stan of Stan's Plans Inc. They were a special project requested by a customer and we are now offering the remainder of them to the public! Their capacity is one (kitchen measuring) cup.
Dimensions: Including handle, 4 ½ “w x 3 ½ “h x 3” deep.
The mugs are safe in the dishwasher and micro-wave.
Bishop Mark
Generally speaking the purpose of the postmark is to indicate the date and place of mailing. Prior to the use of adhesive stamps, letters were hand stamped to mark the day and month the letter was mailed. These hand stamps or postmarks were the invention of Henry Bishop and first called “Bishop Mark.” Bishop marks were first used in 1661 at the London General Post Office. It was devised to prevent patrons from claiming a letter had been presented for delivery earlier than it really had and blaming the post office for slow delivery. Of course this premise is a popular claim still heard today even with postmarks showing the date, time, and year. The year was considered irrelevant during the use of the Bishop mark. The Bishop mark on my “postal firsts” mug is April 17.
Benjamin Franklin
The US Postal Service was established even before the United States became a nation Benjamin Franklin's postal career began in 1737 when he was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia.
Through Franklin's initiatives, deliver time for mail service between major cities in the colonies was cut in half. He could not lower the cost of postage but he, and co-Duputy Postmaster, William Hunter, made the Parliamentary Post profitable. Franklin was dismissed from Deputy Postmaster in January 1774 for “pernicious activity,” mainly, abuse of the Franking privilege. The Franking privilege, which is still in use today, allows certain public offices to send official government correspondence free when it bears the signature of the office holder.
Penny Postage
The Penny Black
The first postage stamp to be issued began with Great Britain's Penny Post. It released the British Penny Black stamp on May 6 1840. Rowland Hill created the first stamp which was engraved with the profile of Queen Victoria's head. Queen Victoria remained on all British stamps for sixty years. They were printed on gummed paper in rectangular sheets of 240 stamps on each sheet. The post office had to cut the sheets of stamps with scissors prior to selling them. The penny black was printed in black ink to make the cancellation marks easier to distinguish. Later, the penny blue, or “Tuppeny blue” was introduced followed by the Penny Red in 1841 which remained the main stamp for postage in the UK intil 1879. Perkins, Bacon & Co. printed about 21 billion Penny Red stamps
Pony Express
The Pony Express was ranked as one of the most remarkable feats to come out of the 1860 American West. It was developed by William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander Majors. The route ran from St. Joseph Missouri to Sacramento, California. It was in service from April 1860 to October 24, 1861. The first westbound trip was made in 9 days and 23 hours but the eastbound trip took 11 days and 12 hours. The riders usually covered 250 miles in a 24-hour period compared to the stage coaches which covered 100 to 125 miles. To summarize the risk of riding a pony express route, an Ad in a California paper read: “Wanted, Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18, Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.” The youngest rider was 11 but most riders were around 20. They usually weighed around 120 pounds. Very few were orphans. Even with the extremely hazardous route, only one mail delivery was ever lost.
Pillar Box
This is a depiction of London's first pillar box and, by extension, the first collection box. When Rowland Hill introduced the Uniform Penny Postage stamp in 1840, the volume of mail increased. Since the number of post offices was limited, the public urged the Postal Officials to adopt the installation of roadside letter boxes. This practice had been used in Paris as early as 1653. London's first pillar box was at the corner of Fleet and Farringdon streets. Only photos and a few odd parts remain of the original pillar box. In 1856, an ornate pillar box was designed by Richard Redgrave in nut less ornate versions are used in towns and cities. Most of the earlier boxes are similar in design to the Channel Island boxes. In 1859 the design was improved and became the National Standar pillar box. It didn't take long for the idea to jump the Atlantic. In 1858, street letter boxes were introduced in America so people wouldn't have to go to a post office to mail letters or pay the postman a fee to carry them there.
Mail Coach
The first mail coach was not built for the comfort of the passengers. The mail coach was faster than the stage coach because it only stopped for delivery of mail. It was uncomfortable while traveling on
atrocious roads and extreme bumping. They also ran through all weather conditions but the speed and convenience were worth it for passengers in a hurry. The mail coaches were slowly phased out during the 1840's and 1850's with the advent of the locomotive and the expansion of the railway network replaced the mail coaches.
RPO's Railway Post Office's
RPO's are an offshoot of TPO, Traveling Post Office, in the UK. TPO's were equipped with letter boxes so mail could be posted while the train was docked at the station. In the United States, a railway post office was a railroad car used as a means to sort mail en route. It normally operated within passenger service in order to speed the delivery. It was staffed by highly trained Railway Mail Service postal clerks and was off-limits to all passengers on the train. Many American railroads received contracts with the Post Office to carry mail aboard high-speed passenger trains. A number of companies maintained passenger routes to offset financial losses from moving people. They merely moved mail which was more profitable. Distribution of mail on trains en route to cities made it possible for letters to travel as quickly as people since there were no faster alternatives for communication. A search on the internet will reveal several biographical, as well as personal experiences, entered by persons who worked on the RPO. They make for extraordinary readings. The last RPO in the United States ran between New York and Washington in 1977.
Jupiter
The air mail aspect of the Jupiter flight came about as a stunt in 1859 by a prominent chemist named Charles Wetheril. He wanted to take atmospheric ozone measurements from a balloon. He believed the upper atmosphere currents would carry him to New York. The local postmaster gave him 100 pieces of stamped mail destined to New York. The wind, however, carried him to Crawfordsville, IN where the mail was placed on a train to finish it's journey to New York. The balloon didn't complete it's journey but the air mail delivery was deemed a success because the mail actually reached its destination. Since the balloon only traveled 30 miles to Crawfordsville, the Lafayette Daily Courier wryly dubbed the flight “trans-county-nental.”
Air Mail
The Post Office was intrigued with the possibility of carrying mail via the skies. The real first air mail service began during the week of September 23 to 30, 1911 at Nassau Boulevard, long Island, N.Y. Earle L. Ovington, who was appointed an air mail carrier, covered a route between the flying field post office and Miniola, N.Y. He flew a monoplane named “Queen.” 52 experimental flights in more than 25 states convinced postal authorities that the airplane could carry a payload of mail. The postal service actually began air mail service on August 12,1918. It took over airmail service from the U.S. Army and used newly hired civilian pilots and mechanics. The Standard Aircraft Corporation provided six specially built mail planes.
RFD – Rural Free Deliver
Rural Free Delivery is a service designed to bring mail directly to people living in rural areas. At the time, 90% of the population did not have access to mail delivery. This was period prior to the telephone, radio or television and the mail was their only link to the outside world. RFD started on an experimental basis in 1896 because establishing a delivery network in remote areas was very costly.
This experiment was tested between the autumn of 1896 and the spring of 1897 I by testing five rural routes in West Virginia. Postmaster General, William L. Wilson laid out the test routes in sparse and in populous areas to extrapolate the cost of the project. His estimates were around $40 and $50 million.
Needless to say, Congressmen were overwhelmed with petitions. By 1902 there were more than eight thousand routes and three years later the number had escalated to thirty-two thousand. The RFD system helped in the development of the parcel post system and played an important role in improving roads.
Dimensions: Including handle, 4 ½ “w x 3 ½ “h x 3” deep.
The mugs are safe in the dishwasher and micro-wave.
Bishop Mark
Generally speaking the purpose of the postmark is to indicate the date and place of mailing. Prior to the use of adhesive stamps, letters were hand stamped to mark the day and month the letter was mailed. These hand stamps or postmarks were the invention of Henry Bishop and first called “Bishop Mark.” Bishop marks were first used in 1661 at the London General Post Office. It was devised to prevent patrons from claiming a letter had been presented for delivery earlier than it really had and blaming the post office for slow delivery. Of course this premise is a popular claim still heard today even with postmarks showing the date, time, and year. The year was considered irrelevant during the use of the Bishop mark. The Bishop mark on my “postal firsts” mug is April 17.
Benjamin Franklin
The US Postal Service was established even before the United States became a nation Benjamin Franklin's postal career began in 1737 when he was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia.
Through Franklin's initiatives, deliver time for mail service between major cities in the colonies was cut in half. He could not lower the cost of postage but he, and co-Duputy Postmaster, William Hunter, made the Parliamentary Post profitable. Franklin was dismissed from Deputy Postmaster in January 1774 for “pernicious activity,” mainly, abuse of the Franking privilege. The Franking privilege, which is still in use today, allows certain public offices to send official government correspondence free when it bears the signature of the office holder.
Penny Postage
The Penny Black
The first postage stamp to be issued began with Great Britain's Penny Post. It released the British Penny Black stamp on May 6 1840. Rowland Hill created the first stamp which was engraved with the profile of Queen Victoria's head. Queen Victoria remained on all British stamps for sixty years. They were printed on gummed paper in rectangular sheets of 240 stamps on each sheet. The post office had to cut the sheets of stamps with scissors prior to selling them. The penny black was printed in black ink to make the cancellation marks easier to distinguish. Later, the penny blue, or “Tuppeny blue” was introduced followed by the Penny Red in 1841 which remained the main stamp for postage in the UK intil 1879. Perkins, Bacon & Co. printed about 21 billion Penny Red stamps
Pony Express
The Pony Express was ranked as one of the most remarkable feats to come out of the 1860 American West. It was developed by William H. Russell, William B. Waddell, and Alexander Majors. The route ran from St. Joseph Missouri to Sacramento, California. It was in service from April 1860 to October 24, 1861. The first westbound trip was made in 9 days and 23 hours but the eastbound trip took 11 days and 12 hours. The riders usually covered 250 miles in a 24-hour period compared to the stage coaches which covered 100 to 125 miles. To summarize the risk of riding a pony express route, an Ad in a California paper read: “Wanted, Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18, Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred.” The youngest rider was 11 but most riders were around 20. They usually weighed around 120 pounds. Very few were orphans. Even with the extremely hazardous route, only one mail delivery was ever lost.
Pillar Box
This is a depiction of London's first pillar box and, by extension, the first collection box. When Rowland Hill introduced the Uniform Penny Postage stamp in 1840, the volume of mail increased. Since the number of post offices was limited, the public urged the Postal Officials to adopt the installation of roadside letter boxes. This practice had been used in Paris as early as 1653. London's first pillar box was at the corner of Fleet and Farringdon streets. Only photos and a few odd parts remain of the original pillar box. In 1856, an ornate pillar box was designed by Richard Redgrave in nut less ornate versions are used in towns and cities. Most of the earlier boxes are similar in design to the Channel Island boxes. In 1859 the design was improved and became the National Standar pillar box. It didn't take long for the idea to jump the Atlantic. In 1858, street letter boxes were introduced in America so people wouldn't have to go to a post office to mail letters or pay the postman a fee to carry them there.
Mail Coach
The first mail coach was not built for the comfort of the passengers. The mail coach was faster than the stage coach because it only stopped for delivery of mail. It was uncomfortable while traveling on
atrocious roads and extreme bumping. They also ran through all weather conditions but the speed and convenience were worth it for passengers in a hurry. The mail coaches were slowly phased out during the 1840's and 1850's with the advent of the locomotive and the expansion of the railway network replaced the mail coaches.
RPO's Railway Post Office's
RPO's are an offshoot of TPO, Traveling Post Office, in the UK. TPO's were equipped with letter boxes so mail could be posted while the train was docked at the station. In the United States, a railway post office was a railroad car used as a means to sort mail en route. It normally operated within passenger service in order to speed the delivery. It was staffed by highly trained Railway Mail Service postal clerks and was off-limits to all passengers on the train. Many American railroads received contracts with the Post Office to carry mail aboard high-speed passenger trains. A number of companies maintained passenger routes to offset financial losses from moving people. They merely moved mail which was more profitable. Distribution of mail on trains en route to cities made it possible for letters to travel as quickly as people since there were no faster alternatives for communication. A search on the internet will reveal several biographical, as well as personal experiences, entered by persons who worked on the RPO. They make for extraordinary readings. The last RPO in the United States ran between New York and Washington in 1977.
Jupiter
The air mail aspect of the Jupiter flight came about as a stunt in 1859 by a prominent chemist named Charles Wetheril. He wanted to take atmospheric ozone measurements from a balloon. He believed the upper atmosphere currents would carry him to New York. The local postmaster gave him 100 pieces of stamped mail destined to New York. The wind, however, carried him to Crawfordsville, IN where the mail was placed on a train to finish it's journey to New York. The balloon didn't complete it's journey but the air mail delivery was deemed a success because the mail actually reached its destination. Since the balloon only traveled 30 miles to Crawfordsville, the Lafayette Daily Courier wryly dubbed the flight “trans-county-nental.”
Air Mail
The Post Office was intrigued with the possibility of carrying mail via the skies. The real first air mail service began during the week of September 23 to 30, 1911 at Nassau Boulevard, long Island, N.Y. Earle L. Ovington, who was appointed an air mail carrier, covered a route between the flying field post office and Miniola, N.Y. He flew a monoplane named “Queen.” 52 experimental flights in more than 25 states convinced postal authorities that the airplane could carry a payload of mail. The postal service actually began air mail service on August 12,1918. It took over airmail service from the U.S. Army and used newly hired civilian pilots and mechanics. The Standard Aircraft Corporation provided six specially built mail planes.
RFD – Rural Free Deliver
Rural Free Delivery is a service designed to bring mail directly to people living in rural areas. At the time, 90% of the population did not have access to mail delivery. This was period prior to the telephone, radio or television and the mail was their only link to the outside world. RFD started on an experimental basis in 1896 because establishing a delivery network in remote areas was very costly.
This experiment was tested between the autumn of 1896 and the spring of 1897 I by testing five rural routes in West Virginia. Postmaster General, William L. Wilson laid out the test routes in sparse and in populous areas to extrapolate the cost of the project. His estimates were around $40 and $50 million.
Needless to say, Congressmen were overwhelmed with petitions. By 1902 there were more than eight thousand routes and three years later the number had escalated to thirty-two thousand. The RFD system helped in the development of the parcel post system and played an important role in improving roads.
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