Strangest things ever sent by mail. Photo

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Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. ФотоPostmen have a very interesting job.

For most people today all the mail they get is bills, advertising and the occasional greeting card. The envelope is not the best way to send pictures or notes, it’s a very great risk that these letters will not reach the addressee. But history knows the cases when people mailed very strange or objects.

1. Diamond “Hope»

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Funny care package: the diamond hope.

If someone was one of the most valuable diamonds in the world, how he was transported from country to country. Surely, with all the precautions. And here and there. The previous owners were, to put it mildly, sloppy. For example, socialite of Evalyn Walsh McLean hitched this stunning blue diamond on the collar of your dog. She also gave wounded soldiers in Walter reed hospital the diamond, so they moved him from hand to hand between the two beds… to raise their spirits.

But perhaps the biggest risk, “hope” was subjected to when forwarded through the United States post office. After McLean’s death in 1947, “hope”was sold to a dealer of precious stones Harry Winston. In 1958, the dealer was persuaded to donate the diamond to the Smithsonian Institute. Winston decided that the best way to send a diamond is to send it by post. Interestingly, although the total cost of postage was $ 2.44 dollar Winston had insured him for $ 1 million.

2. Henry “Box” Brown

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Funny parcel: Henry “Box” brown.

Henry brown was born into slavery in 1815 in Virginia. He got his nickname “Box” (i.e. “box”) when he escaped from slavery at the age of 33 years. Brown married another slave. When the couple already had three children, his wife sold her and her children to another slave owner, and a woman with children drove away. It was brown’s the last straw — he decided to escape.

And he did it very original. Friends Packed it in a wooden packing crate and sent into the free States where there was slavery. In a box of size 0.9 x 0.8 meters x 0.6 meters he put some biscuits and water. For 27 hours, brown’s box was carried by rail and steamer to until he got to the destination.

3. Suffragettes

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Fun package: suffragettes.

Some people used the mail system as a method of travel. In the beginning of XX century was carried out active campaigning, women were given the right to vote in the UK. Suffragists staged protests and done everything possible to attract public attention to their business. In 1909 two suffragettes took advantage of little-used rule that allowed you to send by mail to “human letters”.

Miss Solomon and miss McLellan “was sent” in Downing street, 10 to talk with the Prime Minister. The suffragettes came to the post office, paid the fee and was escorted messenger to Downing street. One suffragette holding a poster announcing the upcoming show and the other was holding a delivery notification. Because they were “addressed” to the Prime Minister, he had to acknowledge a delivery.

4. Testing capabilities

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Fun package wrapped in clear plastic.

There are people who upon learning about any rule, just want to see how it can be used, testing this rule in the most absurd situations. One group of researchers decided to see what could allow the U.S. postal service, and then publish their results in the journal “Annals of improbable research”.

They began to mail the most incredible, valuable, bulky, pointless, potentially suspicious and simply disgusting items. These parcels ranged from bills in $ 20, sealed in transparent plastic, filled to the helium container and the box with dead fish and algae. The study showed that the postal service was surprisingly tolerant.

When a human tooth was sent in a transparent plastic box, post office Perevalova it in an envelope and added a note which stated: “Please keep in mind that human remains cannot be transported by mail, but we assumed that it has sentimental value, and made an exception in Your case”. Sixty-four per cent of the strangest objects reached the destination.

5. Children

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Fun package: kids.

Above it was described how the men were sent by post for political reasons and in order to avoid a terrible life, but there were more prosaic reasons for sending “human letters”. The service of mail and parcels has revolutionized the delivery of packages when it was opened in the USA in 1913. Before that, people had to send their parcels to major cities to be sent.

Now, each post office had to deliver the parcel or the parcel, if she weighed less than 5 pounds. In the same year, the couple from Ohio my God has sent his 5-pound baby to grandma’s house for 15 cents. They even insured the child for $ 50. When the weight limit was changed to 23 kilograms, another savvy parents was born the same idea.

Parents may Pierstorff wanted to send her to visit her grandmother, but felt that the cost of the train ticket is too high. They attached the desired number of stamps to coat Mei, 22-pound five year old girl sat in the mail car. The practice of sending “living letters” ceased in 1914.

6. Potato

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Funny parcel: potatoes.

It is often difficult to write the text on the greeting card so that it was not trivial. So why not send a greetings on the potato. Surprisingly, a number of companies in several countries for the price of sending cards in the mail on the choice of the sender.

Some companies can even write a congratulatory message directly on the skin of the potatoes. Others offer a more complex system, where they will decorate a potato and wrapped it before sending. As one of the companies even print the face image on the potatoes.

7. Cat

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Fun package: system of postal tubes.

When it comes to postal services, most people think that the postmen go home and put the letters on the boxes. In new York a much more impressive system was developed in the 1890-ies. Pipe system allowed to send mail to the city using pneumatic pressure.

Sent the first parcels were various documents and a copy of the Bible. But the operators was not satisfied. The next package sent through the pipe, contained a live cat. When I opened the other air line, the pipes were sent parcel, which was an aquarium with gold fish.

8. The Cullinan Diamond

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Funny care package: the Cullinan diamond.

“Cullinan” is the largest diamond that was ever found. His weight was 3,100 carats – about 0.6 pounds. Discovered in South Africa, the diamond was bought for the incredible at that time the amount of 150 000 pounds sterling as a gift to king Edward VII.

But as between South Africa and England long distance, no one knew how to transport such a valuable item. It was announced on enhanced protection to deter potential thieves. Even when the diamond was locked in the captain’s safe, he was under constant guard. Actually it was all “fake”. A real “Cullinan” was placed in a cardboard box and 3 shillings sent to England by mail.

9. Bank

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Fun package: Bank.

Vernal in 1910 was a small town of several hundred people, but it was going to expand. Local banker William Coltharp decided that the town needed a Bank, made of sturdy bricks to show its profitability and prosperity. The problem was that the next brick career were at a distance of more than 274 miles, and the cost of transporting the bricks to Vernal would be four times higher than the cost of the bricks.

But Coltharp found a clever trick and decided to send 15 000 bricks needed for the construction of the Bank, by mail. To stay within weight limits are 23 kg for a parcel, the bricks are Packed on the boxes. From the brick factory were sent to 40 boxes per day, weighing about a ton. In the end, therefore, moved 40 tons of pennies. It is not surprising that soon a new mail rule that no one was allowed to send more than 91 kg for the same beneficiary in one day.

10. Reginald Bray

Странные вещи, когда-либо пересылаемые по почте. Фото

Fun package: Reginald Bray.

Reginald Bray was a perfect example of the English eccentric. He devoted his entire life to his whims. For example, he assembled a collection of 15,000 autographs. But Bray is perhaps best known for his experiments with the British Royal mail.

In 1898 he bought a copy of the rules governing the rules of mail in the UK and started their testing. He mailed himself Proskurnya cigars, the pan and the skull of a rabbit. Sometimes he wrote these mysterious shipping address as the “Recipient, London” or “the owner of the most wonderful hotel in the world on the road between Santa Cruz and Santa Jose, California.”

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