Mailboxes

[Xcaliber]

Not sure, but the existing 2 digit code was incorporated into the 5 digit code, as the last two numbers.

For example Pacific Heights was Zone 15 until the mid-1960's -- and then it became Zip Code 94115.

[Xcaliber]

<And it is definitely 89 the top half of the 8 is a lot smaller that the bottom.>

Still hard to know. If it was hand-stamped, the depiction may have been affected by the angle of the hand-stamp being applied. We'll get to the bottom of it!

[Chaucer]

Not sure, but the existing 2 digit code was incorporated into the 5 digit code, as the last two numbers.

For example Pacific Heights was Zone 15 until the mid-1960's -- and then it became Zip Code 94115.

Then why also use the number-letter combination for neighborhoods? Seems very convoluted.

[Xcaliber]

The number-letter combinations are not matches for the zip codes. They apparently represent more specific designations that USPS uses for pick-ups and deliveries. Yes, it is convoluted.

[Xcaliber]

Does the top of the 6/bottom of the 9 match? It looks like more curl to the top of the 6.

oct_27_70_zodiac_postmark.jpg

[Xcaliber]

I have a USPS person apparently telling me that if it is an 89, the number references a die that is used to cancel the stamps -- that the # would be used by maintenance to identify a machine when it was out of ink or misaligned.

Not an 89 though, upon further review. The 9 and 6 don't match.

[IthinkIknow]

The 9 in 1970 looks exactly like the 9 in 89 on the perimeter. Look especially at the point where the looped line joins together. There is a darker spot in precisely the same location for each 9.

[Xcaliber]

The bottom of the 9 in 89 doesn't extend further than the bottom of the 9 in 1970?

[Xcaliber]

Here is a (non-Zodiac) postmark from 1969. The top of the 6 appears to extend farther then the bottom of the 9 -- as in our example.

postmark_1969.jpg

[Chaucer]

I know he isn’t well liked around here for whatever reason, but on Tom’s site I read that Michael Butterfield claimed that police know the locations of all the drops. Is this accurate?