Salvation Army FDC from Jamaica 1987 with Souvenir Sheet. Issued 08.10.1987 and postmarked Kingston. The cover pictures General Eva Burrows. The sheet is noted as Minisheet 702 in the Stanley Gibbons catalogue. It is very rare to see this cover with souvenir sheet.
This is an official and quite ordinary US FDC, but the postmark is unofficial and very rare. A specialist retailer noted: “There is no catalog which lists catalog values or prices for Unofficial First Day of Issue cancels. Unofficial cancels are generally fairly scarce on ANY stamp issue, as one had to be in attendance in the one city of issuance, and then go to some other location to secure the cancels ON THAT SAME DAY. So distance and time were needed. We are specialists in this area, and have a feel for approx value, and how often we have seen the cancels on items over the years. I must say i do not recall ever owning these NY World’s fair cancels on the Salvation Army issue, and so these also have two areas of collectors who might have interest in them.” (http://trentonstampandcoin.com/)
Salvation Army 75th anniversary in Switzerland, issued 05.03.1958. This Holland-America Line FDC is unlisted in the Salvation Army FDC catalogue and has not been observed before. Must be a rare item.
A few countries have issued Salvation Army scout covers. I have now listed those I have collected here, see also the menu. It is mostly Norway and Sweden who have the tradition of making a special PM to the national scout camps. The catalogue numbers refers to ArGe Pfadfinder’s catalogue about European scout covers and postmarks. The below cover is the first registered Norwegian scout PM; issued at the “Concordia” international girls’ guide camp in 1954.
Faces of Australia official Post Office FDC issued 01.01.2000 with three pictorial postmarks: 2 x Sydney (Opera and Clock) and 1x Darwin. Extremely rare with PMs from different locations!!! How on earth did they do that?
These two US covers show rocket launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California. The covers have different illustrative designs and have the Salvation Army stamp Scott 1267 attached.
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The House of Senate used to make FDCs for each stamp issue. Here is the cover with the Salvation Army stamp at the centenary in 1982. This cachet is unlisted in the SA catalogue and is seldom seen around.
An unlisted Swiss FDC just turned up on Ebay. The cachet pictures the bonnet as on the stamp. The issue commemorated the 75th anniversary for the Salvation Army in Switzerland. The cover is cancelled with French PM. Not seen before. Likely very rare! See also other Swiss FDCs with single stamp.
The Salvation Army initiated work in Russia in 1910. After the Feburary 1917 revolution the work flourished, Russia became a distinct command and reinforcements arrived from Sweden. However, as result of the October revolution they had to be withdrawn at the end of 1918, leaving 40 Russian and Finnish officers to continue the work under extreme hardship until the Army was finally proscribed in 1923. Salvation Army activities were officially recommenced in Eastern Europe in July 1991, with the arrival of Lieut-Colonels John and Bjørg Bjartveit from Norway, beginning in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). The present cover commemorates the new beginning. Limited edition (250 ex). Source: https://www.thesalvationarmy.ru/about/history
This Ben Kraft FDC was just discovered on Ebay. Ben Kraft was a cachetmaker who made handpainted US FDCs in the 1950s & 1960s and he often had a humorous touch to his paintings. Some of them are still possible to obtain for affordable prices, others are quite rare and expensive. I was certain that he must have made a design for the Salvation Army issue in 1965, and it was very satisfactory to finally find it. The picture is Mickey Mouse as Santa Claus with a Salvation Army Christmas kettle, an illustration that actually has been seen also on a later Grenada 1983 FDC. The cover is unlisted in the SA FDC catalogue and is likely very rare!!
The Salvation Army in the Netherlands celebrated their centennial anniversary in 1987 and General Burrows participated in the Centenary congress in May, three months after the centenary stamp was issued. The shown maxicard may have been issued at the congress.
Very nice and rare Antartic cover from the German Antartic North Victoria Land Expedition in 1989. The expedtion was called Antartic Ganovex V with the ship M/V Polar Queen. The cover has the Norwegian Salvation Army centenary stamp on it (“Slum sister” Othilie Tonning) and postmarked “Packet boat”. Signed by the Captain! Very pictorial slogan postmarks!