R.P.O.

Bibliography

R.P.O. philatelic literature is extensive. Start with:

The United States Railway Post Office Postmark Catalog 1864-1877 by Charles L. Towle catalogs and prices every known marking. Volumes 1 to 3 catalog R.P.O.markings and Volume 4 catalogs Transfer Clerk and Transfer Office markings.

U.S. Route and Station Agent Postmarks by Charles L. Towle catalogs and prices every known Agent, Railroad and Station Agent marking.

Directory Of Railway Post Offices by John Kay presents the dates of operation of R.P.O. lines as noted by post office records. This information is often contradictory to what is seen on known markings.

Directory Of Route Agent Routes by John Kay presents similar data as the Railway Post Office Directory but covers the earlier periods.

Street Car Monograph Series by various authors is a ten volume series which reports the history and catalogs marking from all known streetcar routes.

Market

Very, very few people collect R.P.O. markings for their own sake. The current state of the market is that only those whose interest is in an entire state might include R.P.O.'s. There is no interest among those who collect a county or town. It does not have to be this way, but the currently available R.P.O. literature makes it difficult to trace an R.P.O. through the various counties and town it ran. If this was easily available, many more collectors would include R.P.O. covers.

Among the 50 states, the District of Columbia, R.P.O.'s and Streetcars, R.P.O.'s rate as 18th in terms of percentage of covers sold at 57.69. Streetcars rate as 29th  in terms of percentage of covers sold at 52.02. R.P.O.'s rank 4th in terms of the value of covers sold as percentage of all town cancels sold at 5.51%. Streetcars rank 47th in terms of the value of covers sold as percentage of all town cancels sold at 0.61%. R.P.O.'s overall rank at 4th and Streetcars rate at 45th This is a ten year running average. The most recent trends for R.P.O.'s are declining sharply and the trend for Streetcars is about the same.

Covers For Sale

All R.P.O. Covers

For R.P.O.'s by state, click here and browse to the state.

19th Century

Stampless

Advertising

Picture Postcards

Machine Cancels

Auxiliary Markings

Fancy Cancels

Registered Covers

Special Delivery Covers

Foreign Destinations

Patriotic

Streetcars

Baltimore

Boston

Buffalo

Brooklyn

Chicago

Cleveland

New York

Philadelphia

Pittsburgh

Rochester

Saint Louis

Seattle

Washington

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