Hi Rob,
I assumed the route to be ship since that was a regular method throughout the Mediterranean area. You made me research my "guess" and I came up with this reference:
As you can see there were no railways within the Balkan States as they existed in 1867 that would have been suitable to carry mail on a regular basis. I looked at other references and most don't include through rail traffic until after WWI as even a possibility. Ship was safer and faster. Here is another map showing a total lack of connections to the main line routes in 1888:
1 December 1866
I thought I posted this once, but can't find it now.
Letter from Bellevue (a suburb of Geneva) to Rome, Papal States via Marseilles. The rate was 70 centimes for this route which bypassed the northern Italian area which was unsettled due the conclusion of hostilities between Austria, Germany and Italian factions. Next stop for Garibaldi was Rome in 1867.
2 December 1910
It's great when one collects cancels, especially railway cancels, to get one this clear and well struck.
Domestic letter from Belp (straight line station name) which went aboard the Bern-Belp-Thun-Bern railway (a circular route ); >)) to Romanshorn. It would have been transferred to a main line train in Bern for Romanshorn.
Here's an item mailed from Venezia to Napoli in 1856. Italy was fragmented into many different states at the time. Venetia was part of the Kingdoms of Lombardy and Venetia which was under Austrian control. The Papal States were territory controlled by the church and held the territory in central Italy and the Neapolitans were in the south. The stamp paid the postage to the border of the Papal States and the rest was collected at Napoli.
Hi Rob,
This rate was different than going via Italy. You can see in the lower left the docketing "per Trieste" which means it went to Greece through the Austrian Postal system. As always failing to post both sides made it ambiguous, so here's the back. Glarus to Chur via the Zürich-Chur railway, then transit Trieste, and arrival in Patros. People who collect this area could explain the credits in red and blue crayon.
3 December 1917
Unfranked local letter within Bern was charged 10 centimes. If the sender had paid the postage it would have been 5 centimes!
The Stucker & Zesiger Company distributed food stuffs throughout Europe. I remember seeing this cover at auction:
This week's Postal History Sunday features this cover. I thought I'd share today and just give the link if people want to read more about it.
Rob
4 December 1903
International registered nachnahme (collect) postcard from Chaux-de-Fonds to Pouilly-sur-Charlieu, Loire, France.
To collect Fr6.45 - postage 10 centimes, registration 10 centimes, collect fee (for under Fr10) 10 centimes = total 30 centimes. Cancelled with new fleuron (the little decorative pieces within the name ring) device made according to Decoppet's new flexible-head cancel patent. This during first month of use.
5 December 1878
International UPU letter from a Sawmill and Lumber trade business in Rümlang, near Zürich, to Bargen, Baden, near Heidelburg.
Here's a letter from Firenze (Florence) in Tuscany to Rome in the Papal States dated 1855. At the time there was a postal union between Austria and some of the Italian States that provided postal rates based on distance. For Tuscany, the highest distance required 6 crazie - and Firenze to Roma fit that bill. The big innovation that this agreement (and the German Austrian Postal Union) introduced was the idea that each postal service did not split postage and account for certain amounts per letter to each other. Instead, the originating service kept the postage for the items it sent. This was not the case for most postal agreements at the time.
Here's an envelope that was mailed from the United States to Switzerland in 1863. At the time, a person could mail the letter to Switerland via British Mail, French Mail, Prussian Mail or mail via Bremen or Hamburg. All of these had different postage rates.
In this case, the rate was actually 33 cents and had been reduced from 35 cents prior to the mailing of this particular item. The rate was 33 cents per 1/2 ounce. Mail via France, for example, would have been 21 cents per 1/4 ounce. So, lighter letters tended to get to Switzerland via France.
An example of consignee mail from St. Vincent to London dated March 23, 1908. The cover was first carried to St. Nazarie, France on the French steamer St. Arois as evidenced by the purser's manuscript pen cancel. Partial St. Nazarie April 10 datestamp on face where the PAQUEBOT handstamp was also applied. London April 11 datestamp on reverse.
