Jim Forte Postal History

Welcome to Jim Forte Postal History

Please enjoy browsing or searching through over 120,000 covers for sale.

New Cover Notification Service

Receive an e-mail notification every time a new cover that fits your interests is added to this site. Please click here to let me know your interest. You can set up the notifications yourself or have me set them up for you. If your interests are fairly general, for example a single country, you can set them yourself. If your interests are more specific, like a particular issue, you might find it easier to ask me to set them up. If you choose to set up your interests yourself, I'll review them to make sure they will work the way you intend.

New This Week

The New Mexico list will be ready next week. There will be several nice covers on order.

This week brings over 550 new covers. In British Commonwealth there is Australia, British Guiana, Ceylon, Cyprus, Gibraltar and South Africa. There are some nice Australian military and flights. The highlight of Ceylon is WWII military. There are some U.S. Post 1950 Commemoratives. Actually this is a number of uses of the 60c Rickenbacker. There is a section of U.S. First Flights, mostly domestics starting with a 24c Jenny first flight. Finally there is a section of United Nations. There are some interesting Balkan military contingents and some Geneva Money Order receipts. Please click on the country or category name to see the new additions.

Last weeks offerings include over 300 covers. The biggest section is Great Britain with a good range of material from Stampless to QV to QEII Machins. The new U.S. offerings are Postage Due covers. These encompass a range of uses with both internal and incoming overseas uses. The world covers start with Belgian Congo. The covers include some view cards, censors and airmail. There are also Surinam and Vatican City. The Surinam has several covers with unusual franking. The Vatican has some stationery and pre war uses. Please click on the country or category name to see the new additions.

Now Open! A number of the features of this site make it impossible to offer less expensive covers. The scans, descriptions, free shipping and unlimited return privilege mean that most of the covers here are $10 and up. That doesn't mean there aren't lots of interesting covers and postal history that sell for less. I have a new website called Discount Covers. Enjoy browsing though thousands of covers priced at $1.25, $2.50 or $3.75. Over 50,000 covers are available. You'll have a good time. Please visit http://discountcoverstore.com. Don't forget to sign up for the email notifications so you'll know when covers are added. Over 3000 covers are new June 1. This upload emphasizes foreign covers. The strongest areas are Asia, with China first days and Japan, Korea and Hong Kong commercial covers, Bulgaria, Russia and successor states, Poland Great Britain, Madagascar and Dominican Republic. The highlight of the U.S. is flag cancels. There is also strength in certain topics. Look for Olympics, Astronomy and Religion, which offers many Pope John Paul II items. There is a good variety from many countries. The next upload will be on June 27.

Browse This Site

United States Post Offices This is a reference that lists the name and dates of operation of every post office in the U.S. The list is the best reference ever published in one place. A far better representation of both Alabama and Georgia are now online. Despite constant additions and corrections, it is still a work in progress.

Worldwide Postal History Browse here for the country of your interest. Covers begin in the 18th Century and continue to the modern era. The emphasis is on 20th century up to about 1950 for larger countries and to about 1960 for smaller countries, You will find International Airmail, Town Cancels, Auxiliary Markings, Stampless, Registered, Advertising, Censors, Special Delivery and just about anything else you can imagine.

U.S. Postal History Explore thousands of U.S. covers arranged to be browsed by issue. The stock is strongest in foreign destinations after 1920, but you'll find a bit of everything including 19th century.

U.S. Postal History By State Use this section to browse for covers based upon the place where they were used. Explore local postal history in hundreds of covers for each state, a bibliography of literature available for each state, and market analysis.

Military Postal History Browse here for war covers I have over 75,000 military covers of all types, with a strong emphasis on U.S. World War II material. About 15,000 covers are now ready for your inspection. This includes over 5000 U.S. naval ship covers mailed by sailors, not created by collectors. You're welcome to use on-line copy of my book A Price Guide to U.S. A.P.O. Covers of the Second World War.

Airmail Postal History Browse for first flights, catapults, zeppelins, crash covers, trans pacific and all range of international airmail.

New! My newest web site is Stamps Plus. The goal is to offer a wide range of material, both basic stamps and specialty items. Expect to see used and unused, sets and singles as well as unused stationery, first days, revenues, and the gamut of philatelic items not listed in the catalog. While there are only about 1100 items to start, expect to see the site grow. Please visit http://www.stamps-plus.com/.

Upcoming Additions and Pricelists

June 29
Australia
British Guiana
Ceylon
Cyprus
Gibraltar
South Africa
Post 1950
U.S. Post 1950 Commemoratives
U.S. First Flights
United Nations

July 6
U.S. A.P.O.'s
New Mexico

Coming Soon
Russia
Venezuela
Great Britain
U.S. Post 1950 Commemoratives
U.S. World War I
U.S. Ships
New York

Which may I send? I will post these on this site on these Mondays, but I would be happy to mail you a copy. Mailings are staggered to try to assure arrival all over the world on these dates.