COVER FROM POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT, NEW YORK, TO PARIS, FRANCE, WITH POSTAGE DUE, MAY 13, 1901. Penalty mail send overseas was often subjected to additional fees, as this cover illustrates.
Philip Bunu-Varilla, the addressee, negotiated the treaty that gave the US control of the Panama Canal. The cover bears the date May 13, 1901, and the additional fee was 50-centimes.
PENALTY MAIL FROM THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, post-1963. This penalty cover was sent from the US Supreme Court to an individual at the Naval Security Group Activity in Winter Harbor, Maine.
It bears a rubber stamp notice, "Return to Sender." The addressee had moved, leaving no forwarding address.
PENALTY COVER TO CLARA BARTON FROM THE SURGEON GENERAL'S OFFICE, AUGUST 12, 1882. Barton used the International Red Cross as a model for the American Red Cross, which she founded in 1881. The Surgeon General's office sent this item to Barton.
PENALTY CARD TO BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, 1915. The card bears a World's Panama Pacific Exposition slogan cancel and is dated March 11, 1915. Washington died six months later.
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