The Interesting Item
This registered letter was sent in January 1921 from Bratislava do Victoria, British Columbia, in Canada. It is properly franked with 1,25 Kč foreign letter rate and 1,25 Kč registration fee (IV. period). The affixed Masaryk 1920 stamps show the joint-types I + II.
Beyound the mere philatelic facts the item links to social philately. The recipient was the famous photographer Ernest Crocker (1877-1968). He was born in England, but in 1902 moved to Canada, where he established a photo studio “Trio” in Vancouver (since 1904 located in Victoria, B.C.). He run the studio until 1946. It became known by the WWI and WWII photographs when the studio employees practically worked as war reporters. But many photographs also document the British Columbia region including its Indian tribes. The photographs are on display in the British Columbia Gallery of Art as well as in the Smithsonian Institution.
The sender Marcell / Matozell Jankovics (1874-1949) was a famous Bratislava lawyer. He lived in Bratislava since 1882 becoming an ardent local patriot. Since 1893 he was a climber. In 1900 he established a law firm. Later Jankovics became a member of the Hungarian Parliament. In 1918 he was one of the signatories of a declaration rejecting the incorporation of Bratislava into Czechoslovakia. Although he didn’t warm to the new state, he remained in Bratislava until 1939. The declaration of the Slovak State pushed him to move to Budapest, where he died.
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Unless otherwise stated, all items presented were in the possession of an ArGe member at the time of publication.