Lot Details

Eagle & Thunderbolts (Boston, MA), 2c Bureau tied by perfect strike of "Boston, Mass Jan 2 5-PM 1895" machine cancel with eagle and thunderbolts killer, cornercard for the National Shoe and Leather Exchange, addressed to Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, extremely fine, a perfect example of the most celebrated machine cancel which Michael Laurence once called in Linn's the "Post Office Mauritius of U.S. machine cancellations" On the afternoon of January 2, 1895, from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m., the eagle and thunderbolt was placed into service in Boston. Produced by the American Postal Machines Company, the stylized eagle and thunderbolt design was essentially an experiment to see whether the public would prefer that design or a waving American flag. The flag won handily, and only about 10,000 pieces of mail were ever cancelled with the eagle and thunderbolt. Only a few complete covers survive today. Articles about the cancel were written by George T. Turner (Bureau Specialist, April 1964) and Robert L. Markovits (Machine Cancel Forum, January 2002).