Rouses Point Clinton County Registered

Here's a late use of the Rouses Point / Clinton Co. N.Y. / Registered "postmark".  I have seen this used on Registered Receipt cards from the early 1890s.

Any County named postmark after 1890 is very unusual.  Seeing one from the early 1900s is almost as scarce as hens' teeth.

Camp of Instruction

Until 1995, Plattsburgh (Clinton County) had had a military presence since the late 1790s.  In the 1910s it was the training ground for future officers.  The Plattsburgh idea eventually morphed into the current ROTC program.

There has been no record of this oval handstamp used in 1916 or 1917.  However, in the historical files in the Special Collections of Feinberg Library at SUNY Plattsburgh, I found an old Camp of Instruction newspaper which says that the YMCA established a post office tent for the use of the soldiers.  Since the cancel is definitely not a standard cancel, I'm wondering if this was used at the Post Office tent before taking the mail to the main Plattsburg post office for mailing.

After 40 years of collecting Plattsburg and Clinton County, I have 3 examples in my collection, all purchased in the last 10 years. None of the 3 examples show the year date, which leads me to think that it's not an official postal marking.  But, still a marking that traveled through the mails.

Christmas Bisects

It seems that there must have been a shortage of 1 1/2c stamps in 1933.  Here are two Christmas card envelopes using a bisected 1c stamp and a bisected 3c NRA stamp to pay the local rate.