PROF. MORRIS LOEWY, HOBOKEN N.J., MAGICIAN & STAMP COLLECTOR

A colourful non-Australian-related cover introduced me to the Professor Loewy two years ago and almost simultaneously I found an Australian cover sent to the same man. The Hoboken N.J. cover sold for a cool USD 6,000, the price can be attributed to at least 3 factors: it is a first day cover for the 1901 2c Pan-American Exposition stamp with a May 1 1901 machine cancel; the black vignette of the stamp is shifted upward; it has a multi-coloured vignette; and there are 3 different design exposition labels, one tied by the postmark (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Click to Enlarge

The registered Victorian cover had 5 stamps, two single 1d orange ‘Reading’ stamps arranged t te b che, a single 2½d red-brown on yellow paper Tannenberg stamp and 2 singles of the ½d pink ‘Stamp Duty’ stamps all postmarked with large ‘R’ in a circle plus an unframed REGISTERED/ D/ MA/ 1O/ 99/ BENDIGO postmark. There is also a pencilled ‘19', and a blue ‘514' handstamp. The cover is addressed to Profes. M. Loewy, at the same address of 1251 Garden St., Hoboken N,J. America (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Click to Enlarge

I had forgotten the third cover in my own collection, which was sent to the professor at the same address with the green ½d and blue 2d New South Wales stamps, postmarked by the duplex WEST MAITLAND /JA 14/ 9-P.M./01/ N.S.W. with the barred ‘64' obliterator [Type D3 (iii)] (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Click to Enlarge

The reverse had a partial New York Feb 15, 1901 transit mark, a HOBOKEN N.J./ FEB 15/ 1-PM/ 1901/ REGD. arrival postmark, a PAID/ C/ ALL, as well as scraps of the margins of the NSW stamps (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Click to Enlarge

The cover’s contents confirmed what I had thought from the very first cover that the professor was a stamp collector, for it contained a small piece of paper with the following message: "Miss Meynell will in future only exchange stamps European Catalogue from 25 ct. to 4 dollars each. Other American W. Indian and other scarce values from 10ct. She will give stamps Australian same values. Columbus U.S. 1. to 5. dollars specially desired. Stamps sent were useless for collection however she thanks Professor Loewy and hopes he will be satisfied (over the page) with enclosure otherwise Miss Meynell will return stamps he sent .......German correspondence will do" (Figures 5 & 6).

Figure 5: Click to Enlarge

Figure 6: Click to Enlarge

The little I learnt about the professor was fragmentary: Ellen Peachey at the American Philatelist Research Library was first to tell me that Loewy was an entertainer, and the professor title was probably self-bestowed; The Japanese Philately Vol 47 No 2, April 1992, showed 3 Japanese covers addressed to the professor, and stated that "Few Americans could read Japanese in 1904, written in the semi-cursive running style and in s r bun. Prof. M. Loewy was one of them"; magician Dai Vernon always considered that the ‘palm from the top of the deck’ was the creation of Professor Morris Loewy; the New Jersey Postal History Society published a request from its members for information on the professor, and the society’s librarian found that he advertised himself as an "expert in card performances and theatrical entertainments"; and, the editor of Japanese Philately stated that Loewy ‘received a considerable quantity of covers and picture postcards from Japan and Korea about 1900-05, some with messages written in Japanese script’.

Two years later I found a website relating to the history of Hoboken, N.J. documented with fine postcards, and with more information on Loewy. He was born in Austria ca. 1859 and immigrated to the United States in 1889. He previously married Mathilda in Sweden and in an 1892 Directory he was listed at 218 Bloomfield St. Hoboken, as a Magician. They had 2 sons, Alphonso and Bernard, both born in New Jersey. By 1900 he lived at 1251 Garden St., Hoboken, and he listed himself as a card artist and magician. In 1920, Morris, Mathilda and son Bernard were living in North Bergen, N.J., and Morris listed himself as "professor, play card tricks". A copy of one of three postcards, provided by Maggie Blanck shows on the illustrated side a fine photo of the DeutscherClub, Hoboken, and he used the ‘Professor’ in his purple rubber stamped address (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Click to Enlarge

Morris Loewy who is best known for the ‘Loewy Palm’ card trick, was quite a linguist, a stamp and post card collector, but no professor!

Addendum (February 5, 2008):  A red 1d Victoria postcard  with an added green bantam Victoria half-penny stamp cancelled with the duplex AVOCA/ MR 16/ 01/ VICTORIA and BM '16' was seen addressed to Prof. Moriz Loewy at the same Hoboken, N.J. address, where it arrived on April 15, 1901.  The reverse was not seen (Figure 8).