Today in Postal History

Jamaica to United States
December 6, 1926

This registered cover probably carried an order with cash from Buff Bay.
Buff Bay is one of those wonderful Jamaican village names like
Bog Walk, Alligator Pond, Crooked River, Harry Watch, and May Pen.
Buff Bay is on the north coast opposite Kingston between Ocho Rios and Port Antonio.

There are three strikes of the Buff Bay CDS with only one on the address side.

The cover was registered by adding a preprinted registry label,
a large oval R, a REGISTERED handstamp,
and the obligatory blue crayon crosses on both front and back.
The cover's next stop was in the Kingston registry to receive an oval transit mark.
I don't think the blue script 273 on the address side was associated
with registry but rather with the count of some bundled mail.

The next markings were two Chicago REG. .DIV. double circle
datestamps on the reverse dated December 15.
That may have been the first entry of the cover into the U.S. mails.
It was given a US registry serial number of 85936 with a numbering stamp.

The cover is franked with 1921-29 second issue pictorials.
There is a 1d. carmine and orange, a 3d. myrtle green and blue, and
a ½d. green and olive green (SG 92, 96, and 91).

The addressee was the mail order firm of Montgomery Ward & Co.
who did a good business serving Caribbean customers.
Their mail room also saved lots of the foreign covers which arrived.
You see a great many saved from the trash bins by Montgomery Ward mailboys.

Index
Today in Postal History
January February March April May June
July August September October November December

Comments? Send me an e-mail
Please include a reference to this item.