USA-Grossbritannien

Hello all!

I thought I would start a new thread for mail from the US to the United Kingdom so I could share a few items with anyone who is interested.

I'll start with a nice clean item mailed in 1866 - just to show the 24 cent rate for the first 1/2 ounce.

I hope everyone has a great day.

Rob

I am glad you liked that one. That makes me want to share another for those who stay up late or those who get up early.

This is from the same correspondence. Clearly the Honorable Mr. Bacon was careful opening and caring for his letters!

This one is special because it went to England after he left for home. It was sent back to the United States unpaid. At that time, payment could be made either using precious metal based currency or paper currency - which would require more because the paper money value was depreciated.

This is the only example I have uncovered so far of an item getting returned to the US from the UK that received a depreciated currency mark.

Gute nacht!

Rob

Today, I thought I would share another item from the US to the UK. This one has an additional 1 cent stamp to pay the carrier fee to the mails. The 24 cent stamp then pays for the rate to England. 24 cents for the first 1/2 ounce.

Have a good day all!

Rob

Here is a nice embossed corner card with a nice shade of the 24 cent stamp to England. I really like how this one looks.

Rob

Today I thought I would share a nice steel blue shade on an 1862 use from the US to the UK.

Have a great day all!

Rob

Let me end the week with a favorite item in my collection.

This was an attempt to pay 5 times the 24 cent rate to Scotland. However, the rate increments followed British rules.

24 cents for the first 1/2 ounce

48 cents for over 1/2 ounce up to 1 ounce

48 cents for each ounce beyond that.

Since partial payment was not allowed, the item was treated as entirely unpaid and 6 shillings were required to receive this piece of mail.

Best,

Rob

Hello Ralph,

6 schillings due = $1.44 in postage in the US. This was sent by US contract ship. For each rate, 5 cents for US surface mail and for each rate 16 cents for sea conveyance.

6x5 = 30

6x16 = 96

added = 126 = $1.26 debit back to the US from UK.

I am glad you asked.

Rob

One more before I sign off for the day.

This one has a much more thoroughly researched story that I have placed in this blog post.

This item properly pays for something that weighed over 1 ounce and no more than 2 ounces.

Rob

For a period of time, an additional 5 cents was required for items mailed from the West Coast of the US to the United Kingdom. This requirement was no longer in effect on July 1, 1863.

This additional rate is an oddity in that it applied to mail to/from the UK, but not France, German States and it did not appear to be added to mails going through the British Postal System to or from other destinations.

Have a good weekend all.

Rob