Vintage 1942 Birch Bark," Mailer Canoe" From Kings Beach, Ca With Original Stamp and Tag

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A vintage 1942 Birch Bark, "Mailer Canoe" from Kings Beach, CA, features a 1½-cent Martha Washington stamp. This miniature canoe, … Read more A vintage 1942 Birch Bark, "Mailer Canoe" from Kings Beach, CA, features a 1½-cent Martha Washington stamp. This miniature canoe, complete with its original tag and stamp, bears a postal mark from Kings Beach, California, dated August 9, 1942, PM. The back of the tag bears the initials in the water behind the canoe of TMC which our research indicates stands for Timberlake Manufacturing Company, operated out of the heavily forced regions of Maine and upstate New York.
These areas had a massive supply of natural White Birch and a rich history of traditional canoe building TMC in the 1930s and 1940s became one of the premier commercial suppliers of postal whimsies and rustic wood novelties. They would create blank souvenir templates with the blue tag with the custom paddling man logo stamped on the back of the card stock.
The tag reads “A canoe for Johnny McCarthy: “Greetings from Lake Tahoe, CA, 1254 Union Street, San Francisco, CA, from Happy,” and carries the same postage stamp on the bottom.
The canoe is a Birch Pixie or small model, adorned with beautiful red and black stitching. The 1942 Kings Beach marking suggests it was purchased in the Lake Tahoe area, which was a lively summer destination during the World War II years. See less