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J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 3

This cover was sent on Nov 16^th, 1896, from some place in New Zealand to the "Duryea Motor Wagon Company" in Springfield, Massachusets, USA. In 1892 America's first marketable gasoline - powered automobile was developed by Charles E. and J. Frank Duryea. The brothers' Duryea Motor Wagon Company became the first commercial producer of automobiles in the United States. Maybe someone from New Zealand wanted to order one of these modern motor cars ?

On the reverse side you can see two arrival cancels: The cover arrived on Dec 22^nd, 1896, at 4 PM in Boston, MA. Then it was sent on to Springfield, MA, where it arrived on the same day at 10 PM.

The first item of the new section "ITEM OF THE MONTH" is at the same time the oldest cover I have in my collection. You will ask now: "What does this cover have to do with Volleyball - Philately ?"
OK, let me explain: According to the "History of Volleyball" (check out the webpage of the "Volleyball Hall of Fame" under www.volleyhall.org ) "after a demonstration given at the YMCA in Springfield, the name "Mintonette" was replaced with "Volleyball."
That means that from the time our sport was invented (in 1895 in Holyoke, which is near Springfield) untill the next year the name "Volleyball" didn't even exist, but it was called "Mintonette". Only after this demonstration game in 1896 in Springfield the name "Volleyball" was created.
This cover was sent in that same year (1896) to that same place (Springfield), and so I think it is a nice and interesting item for any Volleyball collection. What do you think ?

By the way: For years I have been looking for some kind of postal document from Holyoke, Ma, from the birthyear of our sport, 1895. Unfortunately I was not able to find any cover, cancelled postcard etc with that criteria. Anyone can help ?