C4802

 Christmas Evergreens

Eastern Red Cedar

Collins Cover Announcement 

Evergreens - Eastern Red Cedar

John Bull Locomotive

As snow and ice grip the landscape in wintry panoramas, I have chosen to use the picturesque boughs of evergreen trees as beautiful, seasonal frames to showcase unique modes of transportation. The result is a stunning group of four individually hand painted cachets with the first one featuring the historic steam locomotive John Bull. The next three to be announced soon will also have exciting winter cachets. A group of vintage and cheerfully colored wooden ice boats gliding over a frozen lake with their sales catching a stiff breeze. A distinctive ski-plane coming in for a landing on a remote snow field with rugged mountains on the horizon. And a classic automobile — the 1925 Pierce-Arrow Runabout— parked in a winter meadow framed by Mother Nature's handiwork. As with the John Bull, all of the covers in this set will be viewed thru the respective evergreens complete with cones and varied songbirds. A lovely group of First Day Covers.

The individually hand painted cachet shows the John Bull in winter as it approaches a curve in the tracks. It is a British-built locomotive and operated for the first time on September 15, 1831 for the Camden and Amboy Railroad. This was New Jersey's very first railroad. The engine was removed from service in 1866, but there is more to the story. It steamed up for the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and amazingly operated under steam for a few miles on September 15, 1981 in Washington, DC near the Potomac River — exactly 150 years after its first trip.

I'm happy to offer the magnificent locomotive framed by snow-laden red cedar evergreens. It is now on display as a national treasure in our Museum of American History. The John Bull — Collins #C4802 at $14.00.