Postal History is more than just "Stamp Collecting"

Alex (vikingeck ), I agree with kosmo . I think you are looking at part of the return postal address on the back, not part of a date.

As for the best place to put this thread, I would have suggested starting it in the Bulgaria sub-board, but putting "postal history" in the name of the thread to invite others to post examples from the same area.  But putting under General Discussion works, too, I suppose.  I'm just not a big fan of the "catch-all" style threads, as it becomes almost impossible to locate specific items in a search.  That's when thread location becomes important.  Otherwise, it doesn't really matter.

Now I started this thread deliberately in the hope that some others might add some covers which have a bit of a story or need some explanation> Why not pick a cover which has more to say than just the stamps, describe what you know and invite others to add more information? 


From Australia to London rated 2/1d  (in 1942 about 50 US cents) Expensive wartime airmail! This was mailed in January 1942 a few weeks after Pearl Harbour,  so was the " American Clipper Mail" service still operating ?

Anyway it is addressed to London Record office for the Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF) who find Pilot Officer Saunders is with 209 Squadron . This lot moved around a bit having been based in the North of Scotland but by March 1942 was in Pembroke in Wales. What was unusual about 209 squadron was they flew a variety of Flying boats Catalinas and Sunderlands so were base at seaports rather than Airfields. (As a personal aside , my Dad was a Draughtsman engineer building the Short Sunderland Flying Boat)

Perhaps because the Squadron Moved, or perhaps because of Wartime casualties  there is an instruction to return the letter if not claimed in 7 days.

I wonder if any Aussie member can find out more about Pilot Officer Saunders?  P.O.  is the most junior Commissioned rank in the RAF equivalent to a second Lieutenant 

 


 

vikingeck - That's a beautiful piece of postal history - supported by an informative and interesting write-up - thanks for sharing.

vikingeck - you did it again! Another ecxellent write-up and postal item. It alls get more interesting when looking at the historical aspect and how conditions were for whoever actually used the stamps. Keep it up!

You are not a simple stamp collector vikingeck - you are a historian and I loved that last post (being bilingual/french and enlish) - keep it up as it is good for our "brains" and I am certain members who can enjoy it will - 
René
Canada Eastern part (49% bilingual in my Province - New Brunswick)

Now I'm back on line with full access to internet and PC files ,

the first cover for September on this topic of POSTAL HISTORY is a Mixed Franking / Franco/American /Maritime /Airmail with social history from 1929



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The letter is sent from Paris,  France on the SS Mauretania (manuscript almost hidden by the US postmarks) and bears a 1.50 Franc Pasteur stamp.

There is no Paris cancel but the letter enclosed has a Paris address dated Nov 13. It has not been written on board and the writing of "SS Mauretania" is in a different hand from the address and  so the letter may have been handled by an agency for mailing and put in a bag on the ship or taken onboard by a friend of the writer who was sailing.

There is a US 5 cent Airmail stamp in addition to the French one which seems to confirm agency handling as the two stamps are not cancelled until they reach New York Nov 22.

So why the US stamp?  The letter is expedited to the West coast by AIRMAIL from NY to Los Angeles and this has to be paid in US currency. Hence the legitimate MIXED FRANKING.

Now for the Social History bit .

Bertram Joseph Feigenbaum (April 19, 1900 - January 21, 1984) was an American lawyer, who served in the California legislature 1928.1930 and 1932. He was founding trustee of Cancer Prevention Institute in California   his wife was Dorothy Bamberger to whom this letter is addressed,  and his daughter  Doris F Fisher founded the GAP clothing group. 

The letter begins   " Dot Darling.....

The letter is full of lady's chat She has just been married and is setting up house. They have a live-in cook/Housekeeper, a valet /butler, a lady's maid and a cleaner. The staff have to have uniform provided $75 for the Butler. The Cook gets 400Francs a month ($18) , the Valet gets 600 ($24) and the maid gets 250 Fr per month .The Cooks allowance for food purchases is $10 per day... she is going to get her hair done a meet husband for lunch in town ……………….the last paragraph mentions a friend died of pleurisy and another acquaintance who had come off drugs was depressed and had just shot himself …………. Bye!
 

It has been 6 weeks since I added another of my Postal History items to this thread . I was in two minds whether to put this in the "Mourning Covers" thread or post it here, but there is rather a lot of history going on here . 

The Stamp collector  will see a  Stamp of the South African Orange Free State overprinted  V.R.I. ( Victoria Regina Imperatrix= Victoria Queen Empress) surcharged 1d British Penny . Issued after the British had defeated the Boers in that area in the South African war. 

It has been posted in  ZASTRON  O.R.C. (Orange River Colony)  AUG 25 1901 on a mourning envelope to  BERMUDA where it arrived OCT 8 1901


 

Jacobus  Swanepoel was a Boer Prisoner of War , in order to get them as far from S Africa as possible the British shipped POWs first to St Helena,  then to camps in Ceylon, India and Bermuda,
Captured at Fouriesburg on 30 July 1900 Mr Swanepoel was given the POW number 11040 and because he was regarded as one of the more troublesome prisoners called "BITTER ENDERS", he was sent on the SS "Armenian " in May 1901  to Darrels Island Bermuda   (3rd line , Tent G , no 10).   About 1100 POWS out of 5000 in Bermuda were in this camp.

Mail of course was censored by the British army . letters were opened and then re sealed .
In the top left corner the sender has written   "met haas als u belief"   = Haste please 

I don't know whose death is marked by the mourning cover but the sender is probably his wife.   " Minnie Swanepoel    Tent  No  521" on the reverse .
To our shame thousands of women and children were imprisoned in makeshift "CONCENTRATION CAMPS" in South Africa . Conditions were pretty dreadful, with poor food and sanitation many weaker inmates died of disease brought on by malnutrition.  Perhaps Minnie has lost a child in the camp?  
  
 

 

 I have to Quote myself. 

It has taken 10 months to get round to the final bit of this puzzle,namely the signature lower left .    A.C. Grant 

It belongs to Sir Alexander Cray Grant who was a member of parliament between 1790 and 1834.  It seems he owned 700 slaves in Jamaica and had major interests in the Sugar and Rum Trade .
His voting record suggests he was far right wing in his views. A real far right social Conservative voting against parliamentary reform, he held his seat by paying for it or by rich patronage , voting to keep hanging for forgery, voting strongly against the abolition of Slavery, voting against the emancipation of Jews, strongly anti Catholic he repeatedly voted against Catholic relief and Catholic emancipation. He complained that the compensation he got when slavery was abolished was "robbery"  

Sounds a real nice politician ……...NOT! 

Very interesting and inspiring thread, vikingeck. Well done!! Thanks for sharing

Hi cursus, I thank you for adding your cover to this thread . Nice one sir.
As always any cover is a challenge to the collector of postal history , even the letter mailed yesterday.There is always a question to research and answer, A “mixed franking” where the stamps of two different authorities are used legitimately, each stamp performing part of the mail journey, tells a story to be investigated and explained.

In this , the first question is “what was the correct mail rate for a letter in 1991 Estonia?”

Are the Soviet stamps sufficient postage on their own? Is the Estonia stamp actually required to complete the rate ?

I suspect the sender with the handstamp Mr Kuttner maybe a dealer with a stock of Soviet Stamps to use up before they become invalid , but wants to make a philatelic statement of Estonian independence so has added the small definitive to make his cover interesting.

As you say , not rare, but it is indeed an interesting time for Postal History , I thank you.

This is a fine piece of modern (relatively modern!) Postal History. While some may be philatelic inspired,there is no doubt from what cursus says in his excellent explanation that genuine postal used "mixed franking" covers are to be found.

These are exactly the kind of cover where it is sacrilege , or even MURDER to soak off the stamps

See also:  Show Your US Auxiliary Markings