C1301

Locomotives

Brother Jonathan, 1832

Collins Cover Announcement 

Early Railroad Engines

BROTHER JONATHAN

It's "sugaring time" and the sap is running from the maples, and the Brother Jonathan is running over the frozen tracks past a Currier and Ives type winter wonderland setting. Oaken buckets accumulate the sap in a maple grove as the powerful, colorful engine slips by. Beyond the grove, a white horse draws an open sleigh over an ice-covered river. On the far bank, a wooden cabin with snow covered roof is an inviting cozy haven as smoke curls upward from the twin chimneys. A lad carrying a bucket waves to the Brother Jonathan and the operator returns the greeting as the engine is about to pass by into a forest of evergreens, mantled in white.

What will draw your attention to this cover is the magnificent watercoloring techniques used on it as well as the other covers in the set. The glistening of the river's ice. The footprints in the maple grove. The warm wood of the cabin and the buckets. The shades and shadows and highlights that create a truly wonderful scene that is Americana in its truest form. But most of all the hand painting captures the crisp colors of the bold engine -- the red wheels, the golden frame, the iron green stack, and the bronze colored boiler. They all come together for what I believe will be the finest rendition of this engine on any First Day Cover.

At this point, I'd like to add that this set of five (three offered in this mailer with two -- Stourbridge Lion and Gowan & Marx -- to be offered later) will, in my opinion without a doubt, be the finest set of covers done for this issue. I'd like you to judge that for yourself.

The stamps were issued in Baltimore. After obtaining them it was on with the Brother Jonathan covers to the town of Railroad, PA for the perfect First Day cancellation. This "railroad" postmark just makes this beautiful hand-painted COLLINS a must for your collection. This one has it all and is among the finest I've ever offered. Item #C1301. $7.75