Belgium to France - 1864

This is the fourth in a series of posts that will highlight items from my collection that were sent from Belgium to France.

Below is a folded letter from Mons, Belgium to Paris, France - July of 1864.

How It Got There

Markings on the cover:

Mons Jul 4, 1864 - 6S
Belg 5 - VALnes - 5,  July 5
Paris July 5

VALnes was a shortened version of Valenciennes and once again, the "5" markings in the red circular exchange mark was applied in Paris rather than in Valenciennes or on the train from Valenciennes.   The Mons post office in Belgium could exchange mail with the Paris exchange office.  So, this folded letter went into a mailbag in Mons after it had the "5" in diamond dots cancellation applied to the postage stamp and the Mons circular date stamp applied.

It rode in that mailbag on the French Valenciennes to Paris train and was only taken out of the mailbag in Paris, where they applied the red circular handstamp.

Mons is not situated very far from the border and also not very far from Valenciennes.  The actual border crossing is at Quievrain. 

Mons was very much a junction point for many rail lines to various locations within Belgium and two border crossings could be taken directly from the city (the other is Erquilinnes). 

How Much Did It Cost to Mail?

Like the past couple of items in this series, this item was mailed during the treaty period that started April 1, 1858 and ran through December 31, 1865.  The rate for prepaid mail was 40 centimes per 10 grams.

One exception to this rate would be if both the origin and destination were within a certain distance of the border.  The border rate showed a reduction in postage.  The other exception was a 60 centime rate per 10 grams for mail that was not prepaid and sent collect to the destination.

The "PD" represents "payée à destiné," which translates to "paid to destination."  It is interesting to note that various postal agreements between countries had their own requirements to indicate prepayment.  Belgium and France tended to favor the "PD" markings.  The Netherlands, on the other hand, preferred to use the word "franco" which was often handwritten rather than stamped on the mail.

Who Was It To?

I admit that I am more interested in the address at this point than I am the addressee.  Perhaps that is because I can't quite decipher the addressee's company name completely.

4 Rue de la Vrilliere

The red circle would show the approximate location of this address.  The map is a colorized Turgot map from 1739.  So, clearly it is not a perfect representation for 1864, but I liked the three dimensional rendering to show the location.  The prominent feature, the Place des Victoires has a very interesting history, which is summarized on the wiki.

The 1864 map - source of which I have carelessly misplaced for the time-being - shows the location reasonably well.  Rue de la Vrilliere is the diagonal street southwest of the Place des Victoires.  The royal gardens are just a bit further southwest and the Palais Royale is just south of that (where "Louvre" is printed).   The history of these sites alone can keep a person busy reading for some time.  I have only linked in wiki pages for now.  If I find something I like better some day I'll add those sources in.

Who Was It From?

V Dessigny in Mons leaves a fair number of footprints in contemporary records.  If you wish to view any of these in a larger format, simply click on the image.

A Société Anonyme (SA) would be a general equivalent to a corporation in the United States, an Aktiengesellschaft (AG) in Germany or a Public Limited Company (PLC) in the United Kingdom.  This book, located via Google books, shows the record for V Dessigny in 1857.  

This shows a registration for a coal mining company in the Hainaut province, centered around Elouges, which is West of Mons (on the way to the Quievrain crossing).  Victorien Dessigny served as the 'banker' and an administrator for this concern at the time. 

And, here is another notification that shows V. Dessigny as the banker for the payment of dividends for another company.  While business transactions, of themselves, may not be very exciting - these clippings bring a person and his business further towards reality by showing real impact on the world around them.

Victorien Dessigny was also involved in oversight of business in the Mons area, being assigned a spot on the Tribunal of Commerce in 1864.  A short monograph on the Industrial Revolution in the Mons area by Hubert Watelet mentioned a Victorien Dessigny multiple times.  I suspect this was likely the father of the Victorien referenced by these other sources, but I cannot confirm that point.

Open Questions:

1. Who are the receiving correspondents for this piece of mail?