Hand Cancel – Seeley, California

Harry Govier Seeley (18 February 1839 – 8 January 1909) was a British paleontologist and professor of geology and mineralogy at King’s College and Bedford College as well as a lecturer on geology and physiology at Dulwich College. He was the first to divide dinosaurs into two groups, the Saurischians and Ornithischians, based on their pelvic bones and joints.

The postal card is from Seeley, California (02/15/84) at the domestic postcard rate of 13¢, to Army Post Office, New York 09333, Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, Germany.

Hand Cancel – Seeley, California

Seeley authored the 1901 book Dragons of the Air, an Account of Extinct Flying Reptiles (this link is a free Kindle version) and believed that birds and pterosaurs were related, disputing Sir Richard Owen’s description of pterosaurs as cold-blooded. Seeley thought they must have been warm-blooded animals.

Fossil, Wyoming – Hand Cancel

Fossil, Wyoming is a small coal mining town located just outside Fossil Butte National Monument. The fossils dug out during the 1800s were sold privately by the miners for extra income into the late 1930s. The two million year-old freshwater lake bed near the town is one of the best paleontological areas of the Tertiary for marine fauna in North America. Fossils found include fish, alligators, bats, turtles, horses, insects, and other species of plants and animals.

This cover from Fossil, WY (WYO) (Apr 25, 1942) to Long Beach, CA, was mailed at the first class letter postage rate (3¢) using a four bar dated handstamp cancellation device. The manuscript note “Order Rescinded” on the left is still a mystery currently.

Fossil Wyoming – Handstamp