Last week I was sharing the history of postcards and some of the early problems that the post office experienced regarding the picture postcard if it was offensive.
In early 1906, newspapers were telling subscribers that the “world’s yearly use of postcards is enormous. Germany uses 1,161,000,000, the United States 770,500,000, Great Britain 613,000,000.” But the United States had over four billion letters posted during 1903, far more than the other countries.
Did you know that in August 1913 the Sherman County Times published “The Postage Stamp Code?” It is a lengthy list delineating what and how the placement of a stamp signifies a message. For example, a stamp placed at the top right-hand corner means business, or it might express a wish for friendship. But the stamp in the same corner, but upside down might be asking the recipient to write no more. A stamp placed in the same corner crosswise meant the sender was sending a kiss, but if the stamp was placed horizontally, it was asking the recipient “do you love me?” And so many more placements were mentioned in this article— bottom left-hand corner, bottom left-hand corner but upside down, bottom left-hand corner horizontally, and then there were meanings if a stamp was placed in the middle at the top, too.
