Post by Anping on Sept 13, 2017 0:52:15 GMT
The following cover is my latest GB WWI registered envelope which I assumed had been sent from somewhere in France or Belgium to Montreux in Switzerland.
Registered mail sent by serving members of the British armed forces was subject to normal postage fees, unlike normal mail which was eventually sent free of charge after the early days of the war.
As it turned out, this is more intriguing than when I first saw it on eBay.
Dated 5th December 1916, it is countersigned (by a commanding officer) just visible underneath the registration label; it is twice censored by different censors; it has 13 hand struck markings in total.
The Field Post Office that first serviced the envelope, used the designation H.R. (as seen at the base of the double ringed postmark), which is also present on the registration label.
Aside from the two postmarks of the receiving office in Montreux on the reverse, there are two very curious postmarks; one of which I had not seen on the auction item image as it was so faint.
Here are the front and reverse images:
The very faint postmark which I had not noticed, dated the same day of despatch, is unknown to me. In fact I can't read the upper section. It seems to be of a 'hooded' type, struck in pale blue:
Retroreveal was of no help, so I ran it through other software to try to enhance the postmark. This is the best I could manage without distorting it. Can anyone decipher the lettering :
An intriguing part is the London registration mark. This at first glance appears to be dated 7 06 ??. But it is more likely that the date actually reads 7 DE. The year slugs don't look like 17 which it would have to be if it was received on 7 06, and there does appear to be a start of a loop where one would expect a numeral 6 to be. In addition, the month portion is unlikely to have been numeric, as per the usual British postmarking convention. However, why would mail sent to Montreux end up in London (2 days later) and then be sent on to Switzerland, arriving 4 days later?
Having considered this further, I now wonder if this was not sent from the French/Belgian war theatre after all, but was in fact sent from somewhere in the UK. This would explain the London registration marking. I'm sure this would all become clear, if firstly the pale blue postmark could be deciphered and the Field Post Office H.R. designation could be identified. Unfortunately, I don't have any FPO reference books. Finally, The No. 2 index mark on the registration label might also reveal it's source.
As I don't have enough knowledge of this field and lack the appropriate reference material, it would be a considerable help if anyone can shed any light on the missing links.
Registered mail sent by serving members of the British armed forces was subject to normal postage fees, unlike normal mail which was eventually sent free of charge after the early days of the war.
As it turned out, this is more intriguing than when I first saw it on eBay.
Dated 5th December 1916, it is countersigned (by a commanding officer) just visible underneath the registration label; it is twice censored by different censors; it has 13 hand struck markings in total.
The Field Post Office that first serviced the envelope, used the designation H.R. (as seen at the base of the double ringed postmark), which is also present on the registration label.
Aside from the two postmarks of the receiving office in Montreux on the reverse, there are two very curious postmarks; one of which I had not seen on the auction item image as it was so faint.
Here are the front and reverse images:
The very faint postmark which I had not noticed, dated the same day of despatch, is unknown to me. In fact I can't read the upper section. It seems to be of a 'hooded' type, struck in pale blue:
Retroreveal was of no help, so I ran it through other software to try to enhance the postmark. This is the best I could manage without distorting it. Can anyone decipher the lettering :
An intriguing part is the London registration mark. This at first glance appears to be dated 7 06 ??. But it is more likely that the date actually reads 7 DE. The year slugs don't look like 17 which it would have to be if it was received on 7 06, and there does appear to be a start of a loop where one would expect a numeral 6 to be. In addition, the month portion is unlikely to have been numeric, as per the usual British postmarking convention. However, why would mail sent to Montreux end up in London (2 days later) and then be sent on to Switzerland, arriving 4 days later?
Having considered this further, I now wonder if this was not sent from the French/Belgian war theatre after all, but was in fact sent from somewhere in the UK. This would explain the London registration marking. I'm sure this would all become clear, if firstly the pale blue postmark could be deciphered and the Field Post Office H.R. designation could be identified. Unfortunately, I don't have any FPO reference books. Finally, The No. 2 index mark on the registration label might also reveal it's source.
As I don't have enough knowledge of this field and lack the appropriate reference material, it would be a considerable help if anyone can shed any light on the missing links.