Hello all!
Here is an 1860s folded letter from the US to Holland. This was sent via the French Mails at the 21 cents per 1/4 ounce rate (7.5 grams). I'll share more on this later, but I thought it would be nice to share something new in this thread.
Rob
Hello all!
I thought I'd share a new item to France from my collection. I'll share more details later.
This letter weighed more than 7.5 grams and no more than 15 grams, making it a double weight letter requiring 30 cents in postage. Of that total, 24 cents were passed to France to cover ocean travel across the Atlantic and surface mail in France.
Franz,
Very interesting US to France cover! It looks like it took the Cunard Line sailing on the Adriatic. The Adriatic was actually part of the Galway Line, but Cunard contracted with it to carry this mail sailing.
What gets my attention is the fact that it appears to have entered France at LeHavre. It is more typical for a US to France item that was taken via the Cunard Line to enter at Calais, unless the letter was destined for a location near LeHavre. This was sent to Paris, so I wonder if an explanation can be found for this routing?
Thank you for sharing!
Rob
I continue to look and see if there are any other examples of this rate (shown in the prior entry).
So far, I have had only one other example shown to me, which included two 12 cent and one 3 cent stamp to pay the 27 cent postage. I thought I would post again in case someone here is aware of another example.
Best,
Rob
Here is the front and the back of this item. I realized I never did follow up and share more.
Route information is below:
Boston PAID (1862)
“Steamer Africa, March 26th via New York & Liverpool”
New York (Mar 26)
Cunard Africa
Queenstown (Apr 6)
Etats Unis Serv Br A.C. Apr 8
Paris Apr 8 (verso)
Roma via di Mare (verso)
“recd April 14th" (docket)
I have not yet figured out the steamship that took this to Rome. So, if someone has information on that, I would appreciate it.
Best,
Rob
Here's a double weight letter from San Francisco to London in 1864.
It is interesting to note the docket "via Panama." By this time, overland was the default route for letter mail, including letters destined for Europe. However, I keep finding letters where the sender directed the post office to send the letter on steamship to Panama. I have some theories, but need to keep researching to find better evidence.
Have a good day all!
Rob
LOL!
Here is another one to Switzerland, but it is missing a 24 cent stamp! This shows proper payment of the 33 cent rate whereas the really pretty example is an overpay of 2 cents.
Rob
Hello Martin!
The item you show is the only one I have seen from the North German postal district to BF Stevens. But, that does not mean much as most of my concentration has been US origin to BF Stevens. However, it is logical to assume there are many fewer from North German postal district than US. By my count, there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 25 covers in the 1865-69 period from the US (and there could be more). There are more in the early 1870s. Most of the covers I have seen come from three correspondences. Yours is from another I was not aware of.
I will keep my eyes open to see if I see others like your very interesting cover.
Stevens had an interesting connection to the US government and military and was aware of the projected movements of the fleet. It is my guess that movement was telegraphed to the consulate in London and Stevens was able to collect that intelligence to forward mail. I will continue to research that point because I don't have solid evidence.
Best,
Rob
Dieter,
All older than I usually look at. But, I am enjoying seeing what you are finding and learning. 
Rob
That's a good illustration of a double weight letter sent unpaid. Thanks for sharing it. Ralph is correct, the Papal State was not willing to work with the new Kingdom of Italy. The Pope at the time felt that the Kingdom of Italy was an abomination.
Best,
Rob
Here is an item I do not believe I have shown before. This item was mailed to B.F.Stevens, who advertised as an "official" despatch agent for the United States while he was in the UK. He provided forwarding service especially for the US military on ships overseas in Europe.
Here is a fully paid item from the US to Switzerland. Actually it is overpaid at the prior rate (35 cents). The new rate at the time this was mailed was 33 cents. I just wanted to share, because this is a pretty cover. I'll find more time to give more details later.
Best,
Rob
Ulrich,
More information for you.
The postal card rate was 1 cent per postal card starting July 1, 1919 until December 31, 1951.
I am not an expert in returned mail during the 1950's. However, it seems that "Return Postage Guaranteed" was a way for the sender to indicate that they wanted to participate in the "Address Correction Service" that was established in 1927. I am not able to decipher the rates and regulations for this service based on what I have for resources.
I can tell you that it was standard practice to either return items like this in an envelope or as a bundle bound together by rubber bands. The top card or item would typically bear the postage due stamps and the total amount due from the postal customer. There is no guarantee that the postage due on the top item will be the same amount due on all other items in the bundle. However, since it is likely these were bundles of the same advertising card being returned for incorrect addresses, you can probably guess that the first item had 4 cards in it at 2 cents due for each. You cannot be absolutely certain, but the probability is high.
For the second item, it would also be fair to guess 287 cards like this one at 1 cent due each.
What we don't know is whether there were some bulk mailing rates being used to calculate the amount per card.
The Washington DC postmark is probably an indicator that this was a bulk mailing - they often would omit the date on those cancelers.
I hope this helps.
Rob
Ulrich,
Yes, the address of the sender. You will find it also on this side of your card. 802 F Street N.W. Look at bottom right.
In the United States, common street name abbreviations are St - Street, Ave - Avenue, Dr - Drive and probably many others.
Washington, DC used the alphabet and numbers for some of its planned city street names. Once they ran out of letters, they used other names, following in alphabetical order. Using letters for street names is not very creative, but it helped people find where they were going.
Rob
Ulrich,
I will start with the easy one for me. 802 F St NW is a street address. It is located here in Washington DC.
Let me look at my references for rates and possible explanations for the rest.
Rob
Ulrich,
I did notice one more thing under magnification of the image. Between the wavy line cancellation marks, I can read what looks like "MASS" for Massachusetts - probably. But, no marking to help us with the town or city. Highest odds are for Boston, of course. But, that's about all I can get to further help.
R
Ulrich,
Unfortunately, I do not see a way to figure it out with certainty. It could be postage due for one item (unlikely) or hundreds of items. The only possible clue is at the top "53 m @ 2 cts 1.06" That could account for $1.06 of the total postage due with 53 different mail pieces being short 2 cents of postage. But, that doesn't account for the rest. It is also possible that those notes do not apply to this particular item. The handwriting is not a certain match, so we would only be guessing.
Rob
Ulrich,
Unfortunately, I do not think you can learn much more from this form.
This was a form used by most post offices and was typically used for postal customers who dealt with larger amounts of mail. This bill would have been a cover sheet that likely represented the accumulation of postage due for several items.
Because the postmaster did not choose to strike a postmark and instead wrote a date, that does not help us. And, it looks like the postmaster did not bother to write the full name of the postal client at the top left. So, in addition to not being very legible, it is not the full name. That would have been our only clue to tell us where this form came from.
I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful.
Rob
Hello friends!
I thought I would share a recent Postal History Sunday post that featured "Sophie" for any here who might be interested. The item shown below is a simple internal letter in the United States during the 1860s (Civil War period). The decorative design provides some interest with its reference to the New York City Quarantine Station.
If you would like to read more about it, you can find it here.
Have a good day all!
Rob
