They both look interesting to me, though you'll get much better info from some of the other collectors here. They're both bank letters, which aren't too unusual. The second is later than you indicate, WWI era.

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I like the WWI one even more each time you show more. Censor tape, a bazzillion cancels, what more could a postal historian have to love?

The stamps were placed on the back of the envelope to help seal the places where an evnelope could be steamed open. The 5c and 10c stamps on the back look like they have different cancels than the strip of 20c stamps. Maybe it was returned to the sender for addiotnal postage when found overweight?

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Thanks for the replies and valuable information! Diocletain57, the reverse of the Hong Kong cover is posted in my 2nd email in the thread. I do think the Italian cover is interesting, I just have very little knowledge of all the postmarks, thanks for the info about the extra stamps Billsey - I guess that is why they invented sealing wax!

I agree with Cobbie here... Though I think selling at $5 does give you some cash at the end. Your costs shouldn't be much more than $1 unless you do something silly and decide to send it with tracking as eBay would like. It started in Shanghai, traveled by ship to Seattle then probably by rail to New York. You could research the ship name and perhaps get a little more history added to the story that way.

I'm going to go back on what I said before about the 10c and 5c stamp cancels. If it was returned for more postage it was done on the same day. We see it leaving the origin on April 5th, being censored in a larger city also on the 5th, going through another city in the 6th then arriving at the port on the 7th where it was sent by ship directly to New York. You might be able to find out what ship on which it transited the Atlantic, but I think there's more interest in the process of moving through Italy in 1916. Why does it take a full two days? You would think they had better train service by then...

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Hi Billsey - your right, for a 5 dollar item it is not worth sending with tracking,or even listing it, probably, so I will probably just keep it - like I need to keep more stuff!

As for the Italian cover, I wonder why it took so long to get through Italy as well...I am guessing all mail was slower with a war on? I can certainly see why Philatelia is so addicting, it is like artwork and history and detective work all wrapped into one.

I will probably try to list the Italian cover and see how it does - I have a lot of other censored mail covers but none as interesting as these!