This common registered First Day Cover has particular interest on account of the address as well as the fine documentation of its routing on the reverse. It has a blue Tirrikiba registration label plus the crossed red crayon marking, and the pairs of the 1d green Queen Elizabeth and 2d red KGVI stamps are faintly postmarked 10 MY 37. The address is given in detail as P.S.K. Hodgson, Cerro de Pasco Copper Corp, Casilla 2412, Lima Peru, S. America (Figure 1).
The reverse of the cover has a well documented routing, with a confirmatory TIRRIKIBA/ 10 MY 37/ N.S.W., a REGISTERED, NEWCASTLE/ 3 30P 10 MY 37/ N.S.W. and a largely obscured G.P.O. SYDNEY/ RS/ 10 MY 37. The first transit postmark outside of Australia is a purple double circle SEATTLE WASH. (TERM. STA)/ JUN 5 1937/ REGISTERED, as well as a double oval NEW YORK U.S.A./ 6 (JUN) 1937/ FOREIGN postmark plus 2 copies of identical double circle LIMA/ 24 JUN 37 postmarks with a total transit time that took 6 weeks (Figure 2).
The cover was sent to the executive offices of the mining company in Lima whereas the mining establishment is in the mineral-rich Cerro de Pasco which is at an altitude of 4, 338 metres. The town of Cerro de Pasco was founded in 1771 and the region has been highly relevant to the Peruvian economy since the Spanish Colonial period on account of valuable lead, copper, gold, zinc and bismuth deposits. The town is northeast of Lima to which it is connected by rail and highway. Rich silver deposits were found as early as 1630, and for about two centuries it was one of the world’s largest sources of silver. In the mining of copper, U.S. Capitol acquired important interests, founding the Cerro de Pasco Corporation (1902-1974).
The capital of Pasco Department is Cerro de Pasco and the entire region has a population of more than 600,000. The map shows the relationship of Peru to Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil, Boliva and Chile, from north to south (in a clockwise rotation). The positions of the capital, Lima and Cerro de Pasco are shown with arrows (Figure 3).
Another example of an Australian writing to an unusual destination.