The Soliloquy of a Postage Stamp #21: A Most Unusual Envelope / Fouad Kronfol

In philately two main types of material are collected; individual stamps and/or envelopes/covers. While a stamp shows a design of a particular item, a cover has stamp(s) and various other features which can tell a story. Covers are usuallycollected for "postal history" since they show, among others, name of addressee, address of sender, postmarks of dates sent and/or received, other markings (registered mail, censorship marks, postage due, onforwarded mail, etc.).

Since we have been busy putting the final touches on the June XUNICEF Quarterly I will feature only one item this week. It is an envelope sent from Japan to UNICEF in New York and the interesting story it tells us. 

Some Comments :

Side One :

• There are five stamps from different years of issue; 1974, 1976 and 1977;
• The letter is addressed to UNICEF, New York, U.S. of AmeriKa...note the spelling of America;
• There is no street address, apartment or suite number, no zip code nor the State name;
• There is a scribble in ink which is then crossed out;
• Another handwritten line in pencil asks the Post Office to "please post mark the stamps lightly";
• There are two post marks in purple touching all five stamps, but no indication of date stamped.

Side Two: (Reverse)

• Here also there are five different stamps with various issue dates; 1965,1969-1969;1974, and 1977;
• We note the sender is a Takeshi Fukuda with an address in Tokyo, Japan:
• It is also indicated that the sender is 14 years old;
• The handwritten inscription in pencil translates roughly to: "Enclosed please find a few stamps. I hope that these stamps will be of some help to your organization"!;
• The five stamps have four postmarks dated 18 December 1978 .They are different from the post marks on the front of the envelope
• There is no post mark to show the date of receipt in the US.

Some Conclusions:

It is obvious that the postage value of the ten stamps affixed is over the normal postal rate for air mail to the US. One can assume that the young person wanted to "donate" something to UNICEF by adding the stamps to the cover. From the date posted one can assume that this mailing could have something to do with IYC which was to start a month later in 1979. It confirms that UNICEF's reputation and popularity among the young generation is world wide.

Some Questions

• How was it that the US postal administration did not post mark the receipt of this cover?
• How was the letter delivered without a complete address ?
• UNICEF NYHQ was in 866 UN Plaza,(ALCOA Building) at that time.
• Was there any message inside the envelope?
• Who received the cover in UNICEF HQ Registry ?
• Why and how did this cover come into my possession?

I was Chief of MENA Section, Programme Division in NYHQ at the time and had nothing to do with Japan, or IYC.

A Request to our Japanese colleagues

I would greatly appreciate a translation of all the inscriptions on the cover including the two post marks on the front, the handwritten markings on the front and back of the cover. It would add more substance to the story of this unusual and interesting envelope.

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