Hi Bob -
Here are two registered Great Britain covers to Hotel Schweizerhof from my exhibit. Both have the blue crayon "cross". That's the way the British marked registered letters.
Registered cover from St. Kitts to New York City dated Dec. 10, 1923 franked with Caravel Tercentenary stamps. Caravel stamps were not popular with the public and consequently are rather difficult to find on non-philatelic covers.
As an aside, the addressee, Asta Studio, sold astrology interpretations and zodiac trinkets between 1923 and 1924 until they were shut down by postal inspectors. One of the principals was a former officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine and claimed to have successfully applied his knowledge of astronomy to astrology and the forecasting of future events. An Asta "come-on" ad appears below the cover.
12 November 1867
Simple international pre-UPU letter Geneva to Lyon, France.
It is Sunday, so time for Postal History Sunday. One of the featured items is this folded letter mailed in 1867 from the United States to Venice in the Kingdom of Italy. Venetia had recently been included as a part of the Kingdom after war with Austria in 1866.
There was a very short-lived postage rate for mail from the US to Italy that was sent via the city of Bremen in north Germany. This rate was effective from February through December of 1867. Needless to say, there aren't terribly many examples showing this particular rate and route.
Have a good day all!
14 November 1868
Double weight cross border rate letter from Geneva to Thonon, France. "PD" indicates paid to destination and blue "2' indicates double weight. 20 centimes (CBR) x 2 = 40 centimes.
I see I missed yesterday -
13 November 1905
Postcard (5 centimes) to collect Fr11.55 (10 centimes per 10Fr increments) 20 centimes =toal 25 centimes. Basel to Orient de l'Orbe, Switzerland. Basel canceler was one of the Güller prototypes built (1903) to prove that the Decoppet invention could be mass produced. Used for many years.
Here's something a little different from what has been shared thus far on this thread. This folded letter was sent from Santander, Spain in 1864, crossing the border into France at St. Jean de Luz. The eventual destination was Paris.
The big, bold 5c represents an extra fee of five centimes on all mail items coming from Spain at the time. You could think of this fee as a bit of a retaliatory fee because parts of Spain had a habit for charging additional fees for the delivery of letters. The postage for this item was properly paid at 12 cuartos as the sender could not prepay this 5 centime fee.
Here's something that is different for me to share. The Norse-American issue's first day was May 18, 1925, and many of the first day cities were towns/locations to which I have some ties. That, and the fact that one side of my family originated in Norway, gives me some excuse for having interest. It is interesting to note that in towns where the first day ceremony was held, it is more likely to find mail that originated from those places after the first day, while still bearing the stamp of interest. This letter was sent from Northfield, MN, one of the first day sites just under a month after the first day of issue. It was combined with other postage to pay the 5 cent UPU rate to Norway.
bwiphilately,
Interesting item. I appreciate that you give us a little background to help with understanding why you are showing an item. I admit to knowing very little about your specialty. I couldn't help but note the return address "Mad House Alley" in Bassaterre (St Kitts). A quick google search pulls up some violent crime in that area in recent years, but I didn't dig much deeper. But, the name inspires a person to want to learn more.
malolo,
The double rate, border cover is quite a nice item - in my opinion. For those who don't fully understand, there were special, cheaper, rates between communities near the border between France and Switzerland. You can find similar rates for many European nations during the time. Finding examples of these border rates is kind of fun - but finding a double weight letter is, in my opinion, exceptional.
For today's item, I thought I'd share a letter sent from New York City to Santo Domingo in the Dominican. This item is part of a correspondence that shows the evolution from the more expensive rate via British mail steamers to a direct 10 cent rate via US steamers. The steamer Tybee was actually a US steamer, so this technically would have been eligible for the cheaper rate that had not yet been advertised.
16 November 1911
Postal card to Courtrai, Belgium mailed aboard the Basel-Rodersdorf-Basel railway. The interesting fact about this route, that still operates, is that two of the stops are in France, so it's a cross border and back route, one of only three tram routes in Europe that crosses a border.
I missed a day due to so many events happening around the house!
Here's 16 November (the one above should have been 15 November).
16 November 1898
Uprated postal card from Münster, Westfalia, Germany date stamped 6-7am, received Zürich mid-night (12) same day. Distance traveled 450 miles! Folks that is faster by days compared to the service we have been currently receiving. Recently our society journal which is mailed first class and had $2 postage on the envelope took almost 3 weeks to travel from Colorado to Washington State! Even Pony Express compares to our postal times.
I got sidetracked. My main interest in this card is that it uses a Zürich razor canceler which was recalled with all the others issued to date for repairs and inspection. The next morning this canceller would have travelled to Decoppet in Lausanne according to a Directive issued by Bern Post Headquarters. It was not returned until 23 April 1899.
It's a Thursday, which as absolutely nothing to do with the item I am sharing today.
Shown below is something that is known as a "turned cover." The more dramatic turned covers are examples of someone taking an envelope that had been used to mail something and reconstructing it inside-out so it could be used to mail something else. This time around, we have an item that was designed to be turned. This was an agreement sent out by the town clerk to an individual who would, if he signed the enclosed agreement, maintain a section of road outside of town. This person did sign and he returned the paper with his signature by refolding it and adding a new 2 cent Black Jack to pay the new postage.
17 November 1898
One of my favorite covers. On 16 November 1898 Bern Headquarters PO sent out a message for ALL post offices participating in the deCoppet canceller test to turn in their cancellers to Bern. They would then have been forwarded to Lausanne PO for pisk-up by deCoppet to take to his workshop. This cover was used the next day while, I assume, all the otheres were in transit to Lausanne. Mayybe this cover was cancelled with deCoppet wtching while he waited for al theothers to arrive from all the post offices. Anyway, it is the only 17 November date found of all 10 razor cancellers. They were eventually returned in April 1899 to continue the testing period!
Lausanne to Plainfield, NJ, USA 25 centimes international UPU rate mourning cover.
