Welcome to the 92nd entry of Postal History Sunday, featured weekly on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog. Yes, I will readily admit that I am counting down to number 100. It's just a silly thing humans do sometimes. If you take this link, you can view every edition of Postal History Sunday, starting with this one (the most recent always shows up at the top).
This week's Postal History Sunday was inspired by a question regarding postal rates that fall earlier in the 1800s than most of the material I have shown over the past couple of years in these posts (thank you Winston!). I have been slowly making some headway on that area, but this might push me to look a little more diligently! However, the question itself reminded me that even for my area of concentration (1850s - 1870s) finding the proper postage rates for a given piece of postal history can be a trial. The great news is that there are works by others that can make hunting up these rates easier - sometimes it's just a matter of finding them.
In any event, some of this might be review for some, new for others - or maybe dull and unexciting to many. But, stick with me, I suspect I can provide a little bit of interest so that most of you will, at the least, be tolerant of this week's ramblings!
United States
Here is a folded letter that was sent from the United States to Antwerp (Anvers), Belgium. The postage rate at the time of mailing was 27 cents, and there are two postage stamps - one with a 3 cent denomination and the other with a 24 cent denomination.
We get a little help with the origin of this letter since there is this nice preprinted corner card at the top of the lettersheet. The letter is dated September 26, 1865 and also identifies the origin as New York.
About the resource for foreign letter mail 1847 to 1875:
I've mentioned this particular work once before in the PHS entry titled On the Shoulders of Others. The 1990 edition of the work by Charles Starnes (United States Letter Rates to Foreign Destinations 1847 to GPU-UPU) has been the postal rate reference book that has been in my library the longest. This is where I am easily able to determine that the 27 cents per 1/2 ounce rate for letter mail from the US to Belgium was applicable from January of 1860 through December of 1867. This is good news because this letter illustrates the rate perfectly.
I wanted to keep this blog from just being a list of resources and have a little fun while I wrote it. So, I figured I could take a moment and point out something I like about each cover I use to illustrate a resource.
In this case, the neat thing is this marking that is on the back of the folded letter. This is a postmark that was applied in Antwerp (Anvers) and it shows a date of Oct 10, 1865. The "8M" would be a time of day marking. This postmark serves an exchange marking and it records the point in time the letter was removed from the mailbag that it had resided in since its departure from the New York foreign mail office.
Why is this a big deal? After all, most of the letters during this period between the US and Belgium will have these exchange markings. And, according to the postal treaty these two nations signed, the Belgian exchange offices were to be Ostende, the traveling post office on the railway from Ostende, and Antwerp. So, this should be perfectly normal, right?
Right! But it has been very rare for me to see anything other than one of the two Ostende markings on mail during this period from the US. It appears that the Anvers exchange office only processed mail from the US that was to Antwerp and perhaps the immediate surrounding area. The rest of Belgium's mail was processed by the other two offices. However, I have seen other similar letters to Antwerp and those show Ostende markings too. So, this one seems to be an exception.
Well, ok. I think it's neat. You certainly don't have to.
If you are interested in letter mail from the United States to foreign destinations after 1875, here is a an example of an item that was mailed from Wellesley, Massachusettes on April 16, 1911 to Paris, France (initially). The neat thing about this piece of mail is the American Express Company label that was placed over the original address. American travelers could use this company's financial services and avail themselves of their mail forwarding services as well.
The good news for American Express is that mail forwarding did not require additional postage in 1911, so it just took a little staff time to re-address each letter. It doesn't seem like a stretch to conclude that most mail would be forwarded from one American Express branch to another, so they had labels created that could be easily affixed over the old address. If you will recall, redirected mail can get pretty messy with all of the corrections to the address. The label makes it less likely that the postal service will have to struggle to figure out where the letter is supposed to go.
Ah, but we should get back to the topic at hand! The foreign rate for a simple letter from the United States to another country was 5 cents as long as the weight did not exceed 20 grams in weight. This rate was effective beginning Oct 1, 1907 and ended on Oct 31, 1953 - a very lengthy period of time without a rate change.
About the resource for foreign mail after 1875:
The fine work by Henry Beecher and Tony Wawrukiewicz titled U.S. International Postage Rates: 1872 - 1996 is the reference most postal historians go to in order to look up a rate for all sorts of mail. This includes rates for special services, such as registration and insurance, or special rates for printed matter (among many other things). Beecher and Wawrukiewicz are also responsible for a fine book covering domestic (internal) postage rates from the 1870s to (almost) the present day.
Are you interested in earlier US postal rates?
This document comes from the PhilaMercury site (Richard Frajola) and was created by Steve Walske. It provides a simplified set of rates for internal letter mail. The vast majority of postal artifacts that were mailed within the US to a US destination will fit these rates, so this is an excellent quick reference. You can click on the image to view a larger version of this file.
France Postage Rates 1848-1916
This time let's take a look at a folded letter sent from Lyon, France to Geneva, Switzerland in 1871. The postage rate at the time was 30 centimes per 10 grams, which was effective from October 1, 1865 to December 31, 1875 - just over ten years.
About the resources
Jean-Louis Bourgouin has been kind enough to share the myriad of French postal rates for this period on the internet as a resource. Les Tarifs Postaux Francais Entre 1848 et 1916 has become a valuable reference to me as I explore French postal history to foreign destinations. Yes, it is written in French, but that is a minimal discomfort considering the numerous free tools that exist to help with translation.
I was first introduced to French postage rates through Derek Richardson's Tables of French Postal Rates 1849 to 2011. This book is readily available if you want to dig through places like Abebooks or the Philatelic Bibliopole. Prior editions simply add more recent rates, so if you're just looking for the older rates, the earlier editions will likely suit you well enough. But, what you will not find with the Richardson book are all of the rates for mail leaving France for other countries PRIOR to 1875. And since that's what I like to concentrate on, you now know why I am so appreciative of Bourgouin's work. But don't let that make you think I don't appreciate the Richardson work as well. Anyone who is willing to wade through all of the primary source materials to put together a reference is worthy of respect in my book.
If someone has a suggestion for a research to share on French postal rates prior to 1848, please send me a note!
One neat thing
Take a moment and look closely at the 30 centime stamp on this cover. You might notice that there are no perforations on that postage stamp, which would have been commonplace by 1871. I actually addressed this situation in a prior PHS titled Finding A Hook. Rather than create the wheel all over again, I'll just pull the explanation that was there for another cover that had a similar characteristic.
"[T]his [stamp] is a depiction of Ceres, a very non-political figure intended to symbolize prosperity. As Paris was being surrounded in September of 1870, the rest of France was cut off from the supply of postage stamps printed there. To make the story shorter, stamps based on the first French postage stamp design were printed in Bordeaux (southwest France). Hence this issue of postage stamps is often referred to as the Bordeaux Issue (we can be so clever, can't we?). These stamps were printed using lithography rather than the finer engraved printings of the earlier issues."
This stamp was printed as an emergency measure so the rest of the country could have them for their mail. Certain shortcuts were required - like not bothering to put the perforations on the stamps that made separating them easy to do with out a scissors of knife.
Ah, the things we have to do during times of crisis! Separating postage stamps with a sharp instrument was one of them in early 1871.
As you can guess, there are many more resources for rates for many other countries out there. So, this topic will be revisited in the future. Because this type of Postal History Sunday is not for everyone, I'll sprinkle them in amongst others that feature shipwrecks, or balloons, or even a little fertilizer!
Now, getting back to the "countdown" to 100.Celebrating the Journey to 100
There are 3 ways you can participate (feel free to participate in more than one way if you wish):
- Ask Rob a question that he can attempt to answer.
- Send Rob a scan of a favorite postal history item and a couple of sentences about WHY this is a favorite item.
- Request that Rob write on a particular postal history topic.
But, there might be a 4th way you can participate!
Send me a suggestion for a resource that can help others figure out postal rates that I can feature in future posts!
I will feature these questions, favorite items and/or topics in future Postal History Sundays. If you do not want me to share your name with your input, please tell me to omit that information if I choose to use your suggestion, question, or favorite item.
Questions
and topic suggestions can come from people with any level of postal
history knowledge. Similarly, if you choose to share a
favorite item, it need not be old or super rare or really expensive. It
just needs to be a favorite item that is a piece of postal history.
Your reason for making it a favorite is enough!
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