For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations
November 7-8, 1998:


Postal Artifacts from the Titanic.


The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries


Oscar Scott Woody, who turned 44 the day the Titanic sank,
was one of the American postal clerks aboard the ship. His
body was recovered from the sea a week later, and his effects
put into a bag. Earlier this year, the bag was found in the
basement of a Masonic Temple in Baltimore.


   "Woody himself was a very avid mason."
   RUNS: :03


The Masons turned the artifacts over for auction to the
firm of Matthew Bennett, of which George Eveleth is
Senior Vice President. He thinks the letter ordering
Woody to serve on the Titanic is the key item.


  "The letter has a pre-auction estimate of
   10 to 15 thousand."
     RUNS: :03


Other items include Woody's postal keys, his pocket watch,
and mail routing slips, most expected to bring thousands
of dollars. But when a routing slip was sold in 1971, it
only fetched 85 dollars.


   "That was the early 70s, and interest in the Titanic was
    nowhere near what it is today."
      RUNS: :07


Thanks to the film. The auction is November 15th. 


And that's stamp collecting this week.

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News.

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