Lynnfield-Related Items Up For Auction, 1/8

Here is a look at the various items connected to Lynnfield that can currently be found on eBay:

Letter From Kenya: Back in 1969, somebody in Kenya mailed a letter to a Mr. “A. France,” care of Lynnfield resident E. de Stueben, on Maplewood Road.  As a youngster, I used to collect stamps, and have a few old envelopes and first day covers. One detail that comes to mind from looking at this envelope is that six years after Kenyan independence in 1963, the country was still apparently using the old “Uganda Kenya Tanzania” stamps left over from the British Colonial era. There is also an actual stamp from the country of Kenya stuck on the bottom right corner of the envelope. I think I’ve actually got the exact same stamp in my own collection and I’d estimate its value at maybe about 25 cents, if even that.

Postmark Collection: Here’s an item for very, very specific collectors – it’s a pile of postmarks from various towns, including Lynnfield, featuring some fairly old stamps. But the thing is, whoever took the time to cut up all those old envelopes may as well have sliced up some dollar bills as well. Look at it this way – one intact envelope listed above featuring dime a dozen foreign stamps from 1969 goes for $6, while 200 of these envelope corners bearing some very vintage and well-known (but not particularly expensive) U.S. stamps can apparently be had for just 99 cents.

The Meetinghouse Goes To England: In 1906, somebody mailed this postcard of the old Meeting House to somebody living in Dorset, England. The seller, an English person who thinks this is “Exeter County,” is asking about $3 U.S. for this, although it is less attractive to collectors with the stamp removed. The original sender also had very little to say, since his half-legible message seems to consist of maybe four or five words. Fortunately, this image does offer an interesting look at the Old Meeting House property (even if this vantage point has appeared in this column before), before the bell or the town Christmas tree were there. This postcard also shows South Common Street as a dirt or gravel road.

The Scottish Connection: Technically, this is one of those items where the connection to “Lynnfield” as we know it is tenuous at best. This wallet seems to have once been sold as a souvenir from the Lynnfield Hotel in Orkney, Scotland.  Perhaps more interestingly, the Lynnfield Hotel still exists in Orkney, on the Northern coast of Scotland – an area filled with stunning scenery and ancient history – and which was also home to Prince Henry the Navigator, thought in some quarters to have voyaged to America long before Columbus did. In its present form, the Lynnfield Hotel features a large number of very high-end Scottish whiskeys to sample as well as some pretty comfortable decor.