Searching for a 1944 Original Order of Zunks cover

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

The Original Order of Zunks was an active cachetmaker group of Pittsburgh, Pa., collectors around 1940-45. During those years, the group produced about 50 covers celebrating holidays and major World War II events.

Original Order of Zunks covers (no, I don’t know where the name came from) can often be found at reasonable prices in the stocks of dealers in the eastern part of the United States, especially Ohio and Pennsylvania.

I have been trying to put together a complete set for years, and it has been a struggle because the covers were produced to order in varying quantities and some that I would expect to exist are not known at all. An example is the likely existence of a cover celebrating Christmas 1944.

Shown here are the first and last Christmas covers of the series, 1940 and 1945. I also have Christmas covers from 1941, 1942 and 1943. But neither I nor Peter Martin, another serious collector, have ever seen, let alone owned, a Christmas 1944 cover.

Martin and I have created a list of what we know to exist and what we think should exist. A copy of the list can be sent as an email attachment to any Linn’s reader who requests one. Send the request to me at jmhstamp@verizon.net, or request a hard copy at Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125.

If any Linn’s reader has or has seen a Christmas 1944 Order of Zunks cover, I would be delighted to hear from you.

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