“Do you like them?” the auction-goer asked me as we stood in front of a table at the auction house. He had seen me rifle through a box and spread out about a dozen envelopes with illustrations on the front.
Many of the illustrations were artistically done, and reminded me of some patriotic covers of Pearl Harbor with drawings signed by Fred Miller that I had picked up at auction a couple years ago. I could find nothing about the artist, though.
The auction-goer told me that these were called cachet covers, which was a new term to me but referred to the artwork on the envelopes. He said that local organizations made some of these covers. Then he mentioned World War I postcards produced by different groups, along with the term American Expeditionary Forces (the U.S. military force of World War I, I later learned), indicating to me that he was a war buff.
I wanted to know why he knew so much about cachet covers. “I collect them,” he said. “I think they are interesting.”
I found them interesting, too, because of the artwork and symbols on them. Their messages were unabashedly propagandist, and most were a call for Americans to support the war and U.S. troops. The country had tried mightily to stay out of the war in Europe until Japan forced its hand with the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. The war brought shortages, rationing and rationing books (a few of which I’ve found at auction) and other hardships.
The cachet covers at auction had a variety of slogans:
Let’s Go Girls! Keep ‘Em Happy. Uncle Sam wants girls to be true to soldiers
American Women in War – the WACs (black women were among the first to join in 1942)
In one cartoon, a soldier says angrily to another while bombs fly overhead: “No rent .. No bills .. Nothing to worry about!”
A freight train labeled “United Nations” speeds toward a group of Japanese officers and civilians on the tracks: “Clear the tracks”
An American Eagle uses its claws to pry Adolf Hitler’s arms from around a globe: “Not so fast, Adolf!”
I found the following covers both amusing and hypocritical since freedom and equality were something that my relatives and other African Americans were being denied at the time:
Keep America Free, with illustration of a model nuclear family
Liberty – Above All For All
United for Freedom and Equality
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
This one must have been the type that the auction-goer was referring to:
Myrtle Point, Ore. Salutes its “Fighting Bobcats”
I always thought the U.S. Post Office issued all the illustrated envelope covers, but apparently it only issues official First Day Covers that are processed, stamped and canceled by that agency. Cachet covers are created by individuals, and produced or sponsored by organizations. They are sold as collectibles.
They can be collected by topic and cachet-maker (including those illustrated by Ludwig W. Staehle, who was cited as the “king” of cachet-makers and did most of those produced by Herman F. Fluegel). Collectors can also pick official or unofficial First Day Covers, or make their own. Some makers are apparently licensed by the P.O.
I found several sites on the web that create cachet covers, including this one that was also selling covers of Jackie Robinson, Satchel Page and other famous African Americans. The Dayton Stamp Club mentioned on its site that it had been sponsoring aviation covers over the years. If you’re interested in collecting cachet covers, here are some pointers here and here.
With this new info, I took a second look at some of the covers I had bought at auction – ones that I assumed were official Post Office First Day Covers. Now, I’m not so sure. They included two of George Washington Carver (1948), a W.C. Handy (1969), a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1979) and a Richard M. Nixon (1974).
This was a whole new world that opened up to me and show why I just love auctions. I never know what will turn up and where it will lead me.
