Hyper - Postal History Sunday

Welcome again to Postal History Sunday on the GFF Postal History blog!

For those who may be unfamiliar with Postal History Sunday or the GFF Postal History blog, I thought I'd give a brief re-introduction this week.  The GFF Postal History blog started as a place where I could work on various postal history projects and perhaps, eventually, share them with others.  With the event of Postal History Sunday on our farm blog, it made sense to cross post them here.

Postal History Sunday became a regular weekly post in August of 2020.  The idea was that PHS would provide me with an opportunity to share something I enjoy with people who may have interest - whether it is merely a passing interest or you already enjoy postal history.  My goal is to allow persons who don't have expertise in these topics a chance to see why I find these pieces of paper so interesting.  At the same time, I hope to be able to provide some tidbits of information to other postal historians that may be of interest to them.  The hobby has a wide range of sub-topics and there is always something new to learn.

If I do it right, a wide range of people should find these posts enjoyable.  If all else fails, I typically find that I learn something new - and that makes me happy.

Now, pack those troubles and worries away for a time and let's see what we have in store for us this week.

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This week, we're going to take a look at an area of postal history that fascinates many people, but is not in my area of expertise.  Of course, that does not mean I can't find my way around the subject - but it does mean that I will miss subtle differences that a person who concentrates on this area will see.  If you are that person, feel free to feed me more information if you think I am missing something.

The period of time after World War I was difficult for Germany after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.  The treaty caused Germany to forfeit their overseas colonies as well as contested areas Europe.  Limits were placed on their military and Germany was forced to pay 132 billion gold marks in reparations to compensate for civilian losses due to the war.  The amounts that were actually paid and the timeline for that payment are another story that you can find if you are interested.

The aftermath of the war in Germany set the stage for something called hyper-inflation which was, in part, fueled by the unrestrained printing of paper money and government debt.  Of course, the situation was much more complex than that and if you would like to read a fairly easy to follow piece that explains hyper-inflation in Germany better than I will - please check it out on the PBS site.   

To give you an idea of the type of inflation were are talking about "prices that had doubled from 1914 to 1919 doubled again during just five months in 1922."  Prices continued to increase rapidly throughout the rest of 1922 and throughout 1923.  As 1923 progressed, people looked at the first five months of 1922 wistfully because merely doubling prices seemed pretty tame by October of 1923.

And here is where postal history intersects with fiscal history.  By collecting old letters from Germany in 1922 and 1923 you can get a real lesson in what hyper-inflation looks like.

A Domestic Letter in 1920

I'm going to start with a simple letter sent in November of 1920.  The cost of sending a letter that weighed no more than 20 grams to another destination within Germany's border was 40 pfennig (100 pfennig = 1 mark - not unlike our cents and dollar in the US).  This rate was effective from May 6, 1920 until March 31, 1921.  Prior to World War I, the postage rate had been 10 pfennig, so we can already see that the simple act of mailing a letter was already four times more expensive.

I suppose at this point, people might already have been a little bit disgruntled by the higher postage rates, which accurately mirrored prices of other items, such as milk, bread, paper and other common items.  

This rate would increase to 60 pfennig on April 1, 1921.  Certainly annoying, but it would be nothing like the next jump in the postage rate.

The January 1, 1922 Increase

Just like every business in Germany at the time, their postal service was finding that their expenses were rapidly increasing and their employees were demanding greater pay so they could stay ahead of the cost of living trends.

The cost of a single letter, that weighed no more than 20 grams, was pushed to 2 marks (200 pfennig).  The letter below was mailed on April 12 of 1922 and shows a 2 mark postage stamp.

Let me put this in perspective. Here are the letter rates in the United States during the first part of the 1900s.  This table was first shown on this Postal History Sunday blog.

 Letter Mail Rates in the United States

Effective Date	Rate	Per
July 1, 1863	3 cents	half ounce
October 1, 1883	2 cents	half ounce
July 1, 1885	2 cents	ounce
November 2, 1917	3 cents	ounce
July 1, 1919	2 cents	ounce
July 6, 1932	3 cents	ounce

The postage rates in the United States went up one penny to help pay for the war effort, but it was then reduced after the conclusion of the conflict.  The rate did not increase to three cents again until 1932.  Our current price in 2021 to mail a letter is 55 cents.

This rate increase would be like jumping our 55 cent rate for one ounce to two dollars tomorrow.  While I know few people send much mail anymore, you can still imagine how this would be received.

Rapid Increases Followed

People who specifically collect and study German mail from this period have a lot to look for and plenty to enjoy.  From January, 1920 to December of 1923, there are twenty-four changes in the domestic letter rate, with the shortest rate period lasted just SIX days.   

The letter below required 75,000 marks to pay for a domestic letter that weighed no more than 20 grams and this rate was effective from September 1 until September 19, 1923.  Nineteen days until the rate was increased again... to 250,000 marks.

The exceptionally short rate periods found the postal service unable to respond with new postage stamp designs for each change.  So, to cover the demand for stamps, they started overprinting existing postage stamps with values reflecting the new postage rates.  

The letter above actually has a 1000 mark stamp that was overprinted with the new 75,000 mark value.  And, of course, with all of the changes, there are likely many examples of incorrect postage that was accepted.  In fact, in August of 1923, the German post offices allowed for cash payment without requiring the use of postage stamps simply because it was difficult to get the stamps to every post office in the country quick enough.

Be a "Millionaire" to Mail a Letter

The rate from October 1 to October 9 of 1923 was actually 2 MILLION marks for a letter weighing no more than 20 grams.  The letter shown below was mailed on October 8.

One of the things we need to remember about all of this is that "two million marks" did not represent the same value that "two million marks" once held.  In late 1923, you could have trainloads of German paper money and it would actually have very little value.  People who were able to had moved towards acquiring physical property that would retain some value.  The PBS essay mentions that many families purchased pianos, even though no one in the family played them - just so they would have something of value for their money.

I was curious if there was a good summary as to who was able to handle hyper-inflation in Germany and who might have struggled.  There is an excellent summary of the most commonly accepted stages of hyperinflation in Germany in this BBC article.  Of interest to me is the following from that page on June 12, 2021.

"Hyperinflation winners:

• Borrowers, such as businessmen, landowners and those with mortgages, found they were able to pay back their loans easily with worthless money.
• People on wages were relatively safe, because they renegotiated their wages every day. However, even their wages eventually failed to keep up with prices.
• Farmers coped well, since their products remained in demand and they received more money for them as prices spiraled.

Hyperinflation losers:

• People on fixed incomes, like students, pensioners or the sick, found their incomes did not keep up with prices.
• People with savings and those who had lent money, for example to the government, were the most badly hit as their money became worthless."

As a farmer, I might suggest that farmers may have coped well because they were in a population that is often more willing to accept barter agreements.  But, I am not an economist, so we'll not go there!

Back to "Normal"

In December of 1923, Germany issued a new currency and allowed for an exchange rate of 1 trillion marks for a SINGLE new "Renten-Mark."   The postage rate was reset at 10 pfennig (in the new currency) and the hyperinflation period was over.

But, before this blog is over, I thought I would share one more.

A favorite item in my own collection has an Iowa connection.  This letter was mailed on April 23, 1923 to Muscatine at the cost of 300 marks.  This rate was effective from March until the end of June.  I would not be horribly surprised to learn that this may have been yet another German businessperson investing in the US dollar and abandoning the German mark. 

And... there you are!  A journey to Germany in the early 1920s - all without leaving your seat (unless you like to read and walk at the same time?).

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Thank you for joining me for this week's Postal History Sunday!  I am always happy to receive questions, suggestions and corrections if you have them.  If there is something you would like to me talk about in a future PHS, please let me know and I'll see if I can find the time and brainspace to make it happen.

Have a great remainder of the weekend and a wonderful week to come!

Want to Learn More?

The small booklet by Gerhard Binder titled The Postal Rates in Germany from 1906 to 1923: The High Inflation 1923 is a wonderful resource that helped me to get the basic knowledge I needed for German postal history at that time.  

If you enjoy postal history and want to see what a person might do if this was a topic they wanted to focus on, you can look at Extraordinary Frankings from the German Inflation: 1919-1923 by Charles L Williams.

Detours - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to this week's edition of Postal History Sunday on the GFF Postal History blog!

It is hot, sunny, and windy on the farm today - making it a perfect day for us to cultivate in the morning.  Cultivation tends to lift weeds up, exposing their roots to the elements.  A hot dry day is perfect for rapidly ending a weed's viability.  Imagine your worries and troubles are a field of weeds.  Now, drive that cultivator out there and lift those weedy problems out of the soil so they can whither and fade away. 

I bet you were wondering how I was going to get that one to work.  I know I was!

Now that we've taken care of our worries, let's learn something new and have a little fun.

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Today we're going to transport ourselves back to the mid 1860s.  For those who have enjoyed a few Postal History Sundays, you might not be surprised by the time period because that's the area of postal history I am most familiar with.  This time, I want to look at mailing something from the United States to the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.  What choices would you and I have for sending a letter to Italy?

Letter Rates 1863-66 - US to Italy

Mail Service	Rate	Unit
French	21 cents	1/4 ounce
Prussia to north Italy	40 cents	1/2 ounce
Prussia to Sicily	47 cents	1/2 ounce
Prussia to Messina	38 cents	1/2 ounce
Prussia to Naples	28 cents	1/2 ounce
British Open Mail	21 or 5 cents *	1/2 ounce
Bremen or Hamburg to Sardinia	23 cents	1/2 ounce
Bremen or Hamburg to Sicily/Naples	22 cents	1/2 ounce
Bremen or Hamburg to Modena/Parma	25 cents	1/2 ounce
Bremen or Hamburg to Tuscany	28 cents	1/2 ounce

* British Open Mail rates did not pay for all of the mail service.  The recipient would have to pay for mail services from Britain to the destination in Italy.

To summarize.  If you wanted to mail something to the Kingdom of Italy, you could choose between sending it via France, Prussia, Britain, Bremen or Hamburg.  Each cost a different amount of postage.  In some cases, it actually mattered WHERE in Italy you were sending an item.  To make it even more difficult, some routes were tied to particular shipping companies that crossed the Atlantic Ocean.  You might get a better postage rate, but there could be a significant delay if you didn't hit that shipping schedule properly.

And... I even simplified the options available to you a little just to keep it ...easy to understand?

Ok, let's just say you had lots of options and variables to consider.  It wouldn't be a surprise if you were confused by it all.  What often amazes me is that the foreign mail clerks were often able to make decisions for the best routing of mail when conditions warranted a change and despite the complexities most of the mail appears to have been handled without error.

Let's Send a Letter to Tuscany in 1863

Here is a letter that was mailed in New Brighton, Pennsylvania on August 20, 1863.  Thirty cents of postage have been applied to the letter and it was accepted as fully paid.  Exactly which rate was this person trying to pay?  I don't see a 30 cent rate anywhere in that table!

The letter is addressed to Florence, which is in Tuscany (north Italy).  We can eliminate the Prussian rate because it was higher than 30 cents.  

To make a long story shorter, I'll just tell you!  The sender was attempting to send this item via the Hamburg mail service, so the postage rate would have been 28 cents per 1/2 ounce to get to Tuscany.  BUT, for some reason, this item was sent via the French mail service at the 21 cent rate per 1/4 ounce.

So, the question is - how do I know all of that?

Two pieces of evidence seem to indicate that the person mailing this expected this letter to go via Hamburg.  The first is the 30 cents in postage (a convenience overpay of 2 cents).  The second are the words "via Hamburg steamer" at the bottom left corner.

This letter did, in fact, leave New York's harbor on the Hamburg Line's Saxonia.  But, for some reason, the foreign mail clerk decided that the letter should go via the French mails (as indicated by the New York marking with the "12" cent credit to France).  This is further confirmed red French marking in the center of the envelope and the boxed marking in red that has "PD" in it (also French).

This is interesting because the Hamburg steamer carried mailbags that were meant to go to and through France AND these steamers carried mailbags for letters sent via England as well as mailbags to go to Hamburg.  Each Hamburg steamer would make a quick stop at Southampton (England) and drop off mail that could go to or through France or England.  Since this was in a mailbag to go via France - it was dropped off there on September 3, rather than staying with the ship when it arrived at Hamburg on September 5.

The next question is why?  Why did the New York foreign mail clerk make this decision to send a letter to Tuscany, Italy via France?  

The short answer is that I cannot be certain.  What we need to understand is that the foreign mail clerks were often aware of potential mail delays and would often override the expected route when two conditions were met:

1. the postage would also cover an alternate route.
2. they knew the alternate route would get the mail to the destination more reliably and/or faster.

It is possible that they had learned that letters via Hamburg were typically slower to Tuscany than those going through France.  Maybe there was some sort of transportation issue on the route via Hamburg.  Perhaps the foreign mail clerk had a brother working in the French postal system and he wanted to support him?  

I can't say what the reason was, but I'll keep my eyes and ears open in case the reason becomes apparent someday.

How about a letter to Naples in 1866?

Below is a folded letter on blue paper that was sent from the United States to Naples in southern Italy.  Even though the Neapolitan area had been a part of the Kingdom of Italy for a few years, postal rates in some cases still treated this as a separate entity.

The letter went through the New York foreign mail office and was slated to leave via the North German Lloyd ship called America on July 21.  It would stop at Southampton on July 31 and go on to Bremen on August 2.

The scrawl in black ink at the top of the envelope reads "via Hamburg or Bremen."  Clearly, the intention was to send this item via one of those mail services at the 22 cent rate per 1/2 ounce.  Like the first letter, it left on a steamship that was going to one of those two cities (Bremen this time).  But, like the last letter, it was also off-loaded at Southampton and sent via the French mails and their 21 cent per 1/4 ounce rate.

Why?

There was this little thing that is often referred to as the Seven Weeks War (Austro-Prussian War) going on.  Technically, the final battle of that war was July 24.  But, at the point this letter was mailed, the postal clerk knew that the route from Hamburg or Bremen to anyplace in Italy was going to be uncertain.  So, they re-routed this letter via France.

The map above shows the troop movement and conflict locations for the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 (you can click on the map to see a larger version).  If you look towards the north, you can find both the cities of Bremen and Hamburg.  The typical routes for mail from those cities would often go via Switzerland.  But, with the conflict, pretty much any route from either of these cities was uncertain, even if both cities were receiving mail ships with no interference.

And there you have it.  One letter that was diverted from what was likely it intended route for no specific reason I have been able to determine and another that had a VERY good reason to be sent on a different route.  Perhaps, one day I will find evidence that shows me the logic for the first routing change.  When I do, you'll probably read it here on a new Postal History Sunday post!

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Thank you again for joining me as I share something I enjoy and we all take the opportunity to, perhaps, learn something new.  

If you would like to learn more, or if you wonder what resources I use as I research postal history artifacts, here is one such item:

"United States Letter Rates to Foreign Destinations 1847 to GPU" by Charles J. Starnes, the Revised 1989 edition published by Leonard H. Hartmann.

This book is still recognized as the best resource for anyone seeking to find U.S. foreign destination postage rates during the 1847 to 1875 period.  The tables take some getting used to and it becomes easier to use as you learn more about postal history for that period.

If it weren't for the efforts of people like Charles Starnes, it is entirely likely I would not have found this hobby to be as enjoyable as it is for me.  So, thank you to the late Mr. Starnes and all others who have gone before me and shared the knowledge they have uncovered.

Have a great remainder of your weekend and a fine week.

Unforgotten - Postal History Sunday

Welcome once again to Postal History Sunday on the GFF Postal History blog!  

This week, in honor of Memorial Day in the United States, I will break with tradition and not tell you how to pack your troubles away so you can enjoy a few moments reading this blog.  Instead, I'm going to be presumptuous and tell you to push your own personal troubles out of the way so you can ponder what it means for individuals to die in military service for their country (it does not matter which country) or for people to be injured, displaced, and terrorized by war.

But, even as we ponder, I hope we can also learn something new and still enjoy as we explore the postal history hobby.

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Many postal historians explore the process of mail delivery during periods of conflict.  My own interests often do not focus on wartime postal history.  However, I recognize that these are periods of time where I can study how postal services worked to adapt as they attempted to solve problems brought about by strife between nations and peoples. I also understand that conflicts often serve as milestones for change that are reflected in postal history.  Therefore, it is important that I have an awareness of these events.

By now, you also know that I like a piece of postal history that leads me to a good story.  When it comes to stories, wartime can provide numerous compelling plot lines that feature normal, every day people - rather than the rich and famous. 

At the time this letter was mailed, the cost of mailing to a foreign destination from the United States was 5 cents for every ounce in weight.  A five cent stamp from a series known as the "Overrun Countries" was applied to pay the postage required.

A Letter to a Relative in the Armed Forces

H. Edgar French, of New Castle, Indiana, wrote a letter to Flight Sergeant Geoffrey French of the Royal Australian Air Force.  He posted this letter on March 14, 1944.  I have not determined how Edgar and Geoffrey might have been related, but it seems clear that they must have been.  There were no contents with this envelope, so who knows what Edgar wrote about?  It could have been stories about a favorite niece or reports on the family's Victory Garden.   That's something I'll never know.

Like so many people at that time, he wanted to advertise his support for the Allied Forces and used an envelope that showed a patriotic design (known as a cachet) that heralded the Lease-Lend Act in the United States.  A label now covers that design, but I was able to uncover it so I could scan it and share it with you here.

The Lease-Lend Act is more commonly referenced as the Lend-Lease Act (but who's quibbling?).  This legislation provided President Roosevelt with the authority to send materials, such as food, supplies, and weapons to Europe without breaking the United States' neutral stance.  The legislation went into effect on October 23, 1941 about a month and a half before the attack at Pearl Harbor and the end of that neutrality.

This particular envelope was printed by a company called Advertisers Press which operated out of Des Moines, Iowa.  Apparently, they printed a series called "Victory Envelopes" for public consumption.  For those who have interest, there are people who study the myriad designs and printers who created patriotic envelopes during World War II.  From what I have heard, the definitive book on the subject was written by Lawrence Sherman and would be a useful acquisition for those who would like to pursue the subject further.

A "Merry Chase" Cover

Some time ago, I showed an item in a postal history discussion group that traveled to many places before catching up to the recipient.  My description was that the the letter went on a "Merry Chase."  Several people found that amusing and it has encouraged me to use that term any time I find an item that had fairly complex travels to get where it needed to go.

First - to England

The first address for this item was to England, but that address has been crossed out and then covered up by a label that has only been partially removed.  In itself, this is not a surprise since most Allied military personnel in the European theater likely had a mailing address in England from which their mail would be forwarded to their active duty location.

The England location is also not surprising because the Royal Australian Air Force was largely under the control of the Royal Air Force (British).  So, while Flight Sergeant French was a R.A.A.F. member, he was part of an R.A.F. squadron. 

Next - to Italy

The removed label likely held information on the first target for forwarding and it is possible the pencil notations at the bottom could also provide clues.  But that may not matter because we do know that Flight Sergeant French was part of the 104th RAF Squadron, which was stationed in Foggia, Italy from December 30, 1943 to October 31, 1945.  So, it makes sense that the letter was forwarded on to Foggia.

I could leave it at that, but I want to point out to you that going from England to Italy was not a simple matter.  There was a war on in 1944.

The territory in red would have been areas controlled by the Allies and blue would have been Axis control.  Mail from England to southern Italy would have had to go the long way around to get to where it was going!  I am sure specialists in World War II mail would be able to tell me (and you) how the letter likely got where it was going.  But, I am not that specialist!  If you are, feel free to let me know what you know about it.

The next obvious pieces of postal information that I can readily decipher are on the back of the envelope.

The first postmark reads: Field Post Office 217 - May 12, 1944

We can take a guess that this might be the Field Post Office in Foggia for the British forces.  There are numerous sources that track this sort of information, but I was not able to locate one that provided me with information to confirm that this was located in Foggia.

 

And now back to England 

It is my guess that the label shown above was affixed giving instructions that this letter should be returned to the sender at the British Field Post Office (note that this is an R.A.F. form, not R.A.A.F.).   At a guess, this was sent on to the R.A.F. (British) Air Ministry Instructions in England who THEN sent it on to the Australian Airboard (administrative arm of the R.A.A.F).

Why was it forwarded?  French's plane had gone down on April 17.  Sadly, he was no longer available to read letters addressed to him.  The report of his demise can be found later in the blog.

A long trip to Melbourne, Australia

Now, the Australian Air Force postal service had to find a way to get the letter back to the writer.

The second marking reads: R.A.A.F. Base P.O.N. 15 July 21, 1944  M.E.

Here's where I find myself out of my element.  I am sure those who study military mail could decipher more of this than I can.

This is the step in the process where I think the purple handstamp that reads: Return to Sender on Australian Airboard Instructions R Silvester Commanding Officer was applied.  The Australian Airboard was the administrative arm of the Royal Australian Air Force and was located in Melbourne, Australia at the time.  So I will conclude, unless proven otherwise, that this marking was applied in Melbourne.

Sadly, I cannot tell you if the letter sat in Australia for months before being forwarded on or if it got part way before it stalled at some out of the way location.  There are no markings to record those travels.

Back to the beginning - Indiana, USA 

The final marking on the back reads: Feb 9, 1945 H.E.F.

This would be a handstamp applied by Mr. H. Edgar French.  We can assume he received the letter he had written almost eleven months earlier and the "Merry Chase" ends. 

Indiana to England to Italy to England to Australia to Indiana.  A Merry Chase indeed.

Five of Six Crew Members Lost

What must it be like to be notified that a family member is lost in war?  This letter did not return to Mr. French until February of 1945, so I can guess that he had already been notified by family that Geoffrey's plane had ditched in the ocean near Corsica and that he was among the five crew members that were lost.  Perhaps his family was just getting over the initial grief - and then this letter comes back in the mail to haunt them.

The RAAF Aviation History Museum provides a summary of the action that took the life of Flight Sergeant Geoffrey Charles French.  The original work to compile this information by Alan Storr can be found here.

In honor of the Flight Sergeant and all others who have served and are no longer with us, I take the liberty of quoting that site for the content regarding his loss:

Service No: 422484
Born: Ryde NSW, 27 July 1917
Enlisted in the RAAF: 22 May 1942
Unit: No. 104 Squadron (RAF)
Died: Air Operations: (No. 104 Squadron Wellington aircraft LN928), off Corsica, 17 April 1944, Aged 26 Years
Buried: Unrecovered
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Albert Edgar and Elizabeth Ida French, of Hornsby, New South Wales, Australia.

At 2307 hours on 16 April 1944 Wellington LN928 took off from Foggia aerodrome to attack a target at Leghorn, Italy. The following messages were received from the aircraft: 0130 hours- Landing at Borgo with engine trouble; 0206 hours – preparing to ditch, and 0209 hours – now ditching at position 42.20N 009.57E. The position was in the sea near Corsica. When the aircraft ditched, Flying Officer Gilleland was forced out of the escape hatch by the inrush of water. No other survivors were seen. He reached a dinghy and later saw a light being shone upside of the dinghy. He was rescued when a Catalina was sighted and attracted that afternoon. It was later recorded that the 5 missing members had lost their lives at sea.

The crew members of LN928 were:

Sergeant Ronald Adams (1047206) (RAFVR) (Wireless Operator Air)
Flying Officer Leslie Albert Denison (418224) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Sergeant William Fox (1586899) (RAFVR) (Navigator)
Flight Sergeant Geoffrey Charles French (422484) (Navigator Bomb Aimer)
Flying Officer William Campbell Gilleland (421900) (Pilot) Rescued, Discharged from the RAAF: 11 July 1945
Warrant Officer William Barry Ryan (413446) (Air Gunner)

Above is a Vickers Wellington aircraft (bomber) that would have been similar to the one Geoffrey French served on.  Image taken from the wikipedia open source photos pages.

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Thank you for joining me again for another Postal History Sunday.  May we learn from the lessons of the past so we might avoid making the same mistakes - and people like Geoffrey Charles French could live beyond the age of 26.

Don't Believe Everything You See - Postal History Sunday

It's time for Postal History Sunday on the Genuine Faux Farm blog!  Let's see what kinds of new things we can all learn while I share something I enjoy.

Before we get started, let's take a moment to put on some baseball cleats - preferably the steel cleats.  Please note, you should put these on AFTER you get outside.  Some who live in your home may not appreciate the damage those cleats might do to floors and carpeting.  Take your troubles and worries and throw them to the ground.  Then, take a few moments to thoroughly tenderize them by marching on them for a while with your cleats.  They rarely look as intimidating after that treatment.

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This week, I wanted to accomplish two things.  First, I wanted to show everyone that postal history does NOT require that you collect mail from the 1800s.  It may prefer items from the 1850s to the 1870s - but many people find interesting things to explore that are much "newer" or "older" than that.  And second, I wanted to illustrate that sometimes what you see on a piece of mail can be misleading.

Well, I DID warn you that I was going to show something that was not all that old - especially compared to what I normally show here.

If you think this is a piece of "junk mail," you would be absolutely correct.  The contents are promoting a home equity credit line and the cover letter is dated "July, 1988."  If you'll recall, we had a Postal History Sunday last September that discussed reduced postage rates for printed matter in the 1800s.  Even then, post offices recognized the value of providing mail services to those who were interested in "mass mailings."  

Once we get into the 1980s, the US Postal Service provided many levels of discounts depending on how the sender organized the mail to be sent.  The piece of mail shown above would have qualified for the Third-Class Bulk/Quantity discount.  When this class of rates was first established in 1952, a mailer could qualify if they mailed 200 or more identical pieces of mail or 20 pounds of identical pieces in one mailing.  The weight amount had increased to 50 pounds by the time we reach 1988, but the 200 piece minimum still held true.

There were bulk rates for mailers who did not pre-sort any of their mail and there were lower rates for those who would sort the mail they were sending to make it easier for the postal service to get the mail sent on its way.   The item shown above used a sorting technique known as the "5-digit presort."  Essentially, the mailer put the envelopes in bundles of 10 or more with each item in that bundle having the same five-digit zip code.  Because this reduced some of the labor for the postal service, they qualified for a lower rate.

The rate for a piece of mail using the Third-Class, Bulk Rate with 5-Digit Presort was 13.2 cents per piece of mail.  This rate was effective from April 3, 1988 to February 2, 1991.

Let's look at the stamp that was used to show that the postage was paid for this item.

The overprinted words "Bulk Rate" confirm for us that this was, indeed, a Third-Class, Bulk Rate item.  But, the stamp indicates that 10.1 cents were paid in postage.

That's not 13.2 cents!  What's up with that?

First off - the new 13.2 cent stamps were not released for use until July 19, 1988, that's more than a couple months after the new rate was put into effect.  So - the postal service didn't have stamps available with right postage amount on them for mailers to use even though the postage rate had changed.

Second, bulk mailers would often buy large stocks of the stamps needed for mass mailing.  Rather than "sticking" their customers with a bunch of postage that no longer worked, they would allow the use of the older stamps for the same rate during a grace period.  The period for the 10.1 cent Oil Wagon stamp lasted until October 9, 1988.  Bulk mailers would simply pay the postal service the difference after the postal increase and then they would be allowed to use up their old supplies during the grace period.

There you have it.  A 10.1 cent stamp that actually indicated that the mailer paid the 13.2 cents required.  You just can't believe everything you see when it comes to postal history.

Here's another example from the same mailer.  This time, the piece of mail was sent as a Third-Class, Bulk Rate, but it was sent under the rules for a "Basic Presort."  This rate was a bit more expensive because the mail was not sorted in bundles of 10 by the 5-digit Zip code.  

The contents showed that this was mailed in April of 1988, so it falls into the same rate period as the last item, but the rate for a "Basic Presort" was 16.7 cents.  Just like the last example, the new stamps were NOT available until July.  So, an old 12.5 cent stamp was used to show that the item was properly paid.

Let's go backwards in time 123 years to the year 1865 and we can look at a letter that originated in British Columbia, went through San Francisco and New York, and then went on its way to Liverpool, England.

Unlike the first two items, this is a piece of letter mail, not an item that qualified for a reduced rate.  Because the letter started its journey outside of the United States, the postage for British Columbia had to be paid.  Mail from the Cariboo Region (Williams Creek) to New Westminster cost 6 pence and an additional 3 pence was required to pay the foreign mail rate to San Francisco.  This 9 pence rate was assessed for every half ounce of weight and was effective from May 2, 1864 until December 31, 1865.

The pink stamps were the postage that was available for mailing in British Columbia.  If you look carefully you will see that their value is 2 pence & a half penny (2 1/2 pence).  So, the total postage paid looks like 7.5 pence.

That's not 9 pence!

Well, this situation was similar to the first two cases.  The rate had changed, but 3 pence stamps were not available.  So, the 2.5 pence stamps were pressed into service to indicate payment of 3 pence each.

The 24 cent stamp showed the US postage of 24 cents per 1/2 ounce for mail that would go from the United States to England.  At least in that case, the face value of the stamp was consistent with the amount of postage paid!

This piece of postal history is a wonderful item with a much bigger story.  Perhaps it will get its own Postal History Sunday later this year!

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Thank you again for joining me for Postal History Sunday!  I hope you learned something new or - if you didn't learn something new, you enjoyed reading about things you already knew.  Whatever works!

Have a great remainder of the weekend and wonderful week to come. 

Resources

For those who might like to explore more.

The book U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-1999 (2nd edition) by Henry Beecher and Anthony Wawrukiewicz is an excellent resource for anyone looking for modern postal rates.  A third edition through the year 2011 is now available.

Steve Walske's fine work titled Postal Rates on Mail from British Columbia and Vancouver Island via the United States 1858 - 1870 and some direct assistance from Mr. Walske have helped me to undertand the last item in this post.  This article is hosted by the Western Cover Society.

If you would like to learn more about the Transportation Series of stamps, the National Postal Museum has a brief summary for each stamp issued for that design group.

Finding A Hook - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday on the GFF Postal History blog!  

Take those worries and soak them for a bit under the faucet.  Once they're good and wet, throw them into the freezer for a while until they are solid.  Then, drop them from a sufficient height or throw them hard against a block wall so they shatter and are no longer recognizable!  Why?  Well, won't you enjoy Postal History Sunday more if you aren't concentrating on those worries?

Sounds good to me!

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This week I wanted to just have a little fun and show you some of the ways a postal history item appeals to me.  There is often some sort of hook that actually compels me to add it to my collection and that 'hook' is not always as easy to recognize as you might think.  In fact, sometimes the initial attraction for an item ends up being secondary when all is said and done.

One UGLY Chicken

I know I've shared this before in some sort of blog post, I just don't remember where or when.  After all, it does have a farming connection, which made it fair game earlier on for our farm blog.

The design on the envelope is terribly hard to ignore in this case because - well - that is ONE UGLY ROOSTER!  Nothing else was required at that point to entice me to add it to my postal history and farming collection.  The post mark is clear enough and the condition is fine.  So, yeah.  Good deal.

The odd thing about it was - there was more than one of these available (ugly chicken covers), so I had to select one.

There was actually another hook for this item that is not obvious unless you know a little United States domestic mail rate history.  You might recall that I gave an overview for the postage rates in the United States in this Postal History Sunday a couple of weeks ago.  In that post, I presented this table:

 Letter Mail Rates in the United States

Effective Date	Rate	Per
July 1, 1863	3 cents	half ounce
October 1, 1883	2 cents	half ounce
July 1, 1885	2 cents	ounce
November 2, 1917	3 cents	ounce
July 1, 1919	2 cents	ounce
July 6, 1932	3 cents	ounce

Now, take a look at the postmark date - Oct 1, 1883.

This is the first day that the new 2 cents per half ounce rate was in effect.  How cool is that?  (Ok, it's really cool for a postal historian - maybe you're less excited about it.)  What is equally impressive is that this item was mailed with the correct 2 cents in postage.  Not everyone is prepared to send their mail at a new rate, but the Aultman and Taylor company was!  Of course, the postage rate went down, so there was a bit more incentive to get it right.

I wonder if they held on to some mail until October 1st so they could mail it all at the cheaper rate?

Oh - and there is a reason Aultman and Taylor used the ugly chicken as their trademark.  Their claim was that their threshers would result in fewer seed heads for grain crops being lost to the hay stack.  This poor fellow had been foraging and Aultman & Taylor created straw stack and not found much to nourish him.  Of course, if a competitor's thresher had been used, our fine rooster would look far healthier, but the farmer might not be as pleased with their yields.

Alas for the rooster!

Rome Finally Concedes

The next item is a piece of letter mail that was sent from Triest (then in Austria) to Rome, Italy.  The rate for mail from Austria to the Kingdom of Italy was 15 kreuzer per loth (effective : Oct 1, 1867 - Jun 30, 1875).  

In other words, it seems to be a pretty standard letter for the time period.  What attracted me to it?

The postmark dates have something to do with this one as well.  The letter was mailed on October 11, 1870 and it arrived in Rome on October 13.  

What you need to know is that Rome, and the surrounding territory known as the Patrimony of St Peter (or Latium), had continued to resist joining the Kingdom of Italy that had formed under the leadership of Sardinia beginning in 1859.  The map below can give you a picture of the territory that was still held by the Papacy after 1860 (territory in pink).

However, as we progress through the 1860s, there were increased concessions toward normalcy between the Papal territory and the Kingdom.  For example, the Papal State adopted the Italian Lira for currency.  However, the Pope still held his conviction that the Kingdom was a heretical usurpation of power from the Church. 

One of the few things keeping the Italians from taking control of Latium and Rome was the presence of French troops.  The French, having troubles of their own as they fought a losing battle against Prussia, withdrew their garrison from Rome in 1870.  The Kingdom of Italy moved in September to finally annex Rome and the surrounding territory in Latium (the Patrimony).  Despite a cautious advance by the Italians, Pope Pius IX refused to surrender and offered a weak defense at Rome on September 20 and there was some bloodshed.  

After a plebiscite vote on October 2 confirmed that the citizens wanted to join Italy, this area was annexed by decree on October 9, 1870.  The Pope, at this point, was left with only the Vatican under the Church's control (and it remains so to this day).

So, technically, up until the plebiscite on October 9, a letter from Austria to Rome was not technically to the Kingdom of Italy.  This letter nicely skirts right on the edge of an historic event - which makes it interesting to me.

What's With Those Stamps?

Here is a letter mailed from France to Belgium in 1871.  The postal rate for mail between these countries was 30 centimes per 10 grams (effective from Jan 1, 1866 - Dec 31, 1875).   The letter below was mailed from Lille, France to St Gilles by Brussels, Belgium and the postage was paid by a 10 centime and a 20 centime stamp.

What we know about the time period that this was mailed is that the Prussians were having very little difficulty in defeating the French.  By February 1, 1871 (the date this was mailed), the Siege of Paris had ended (January 28) and France had capitulated (isn't that a GREAT word?!).  So, I suppose you could say that, once again, I have an item that comes close to some important dates in history.  Except, I really don't think Lille and Brussels have that much to do with the specific date - so that's not what made it interesting to me.  

This time, it was the stamps.

Let me show you another letter mailed from France to Belgium to illustrate:

This letter was mailed in Paris in 1867 to Anvers (Antwerp), Belgium.  A single 30 centime stamp pays the same rate.  If you look closely at this stamp, you will see that it depicts Emperor Napoleon III, who had first been President (1848-52) and then declared Emperor (1853-1870).  Now take a look at the stamps on the first item:

Well.  That's not Napoleon III.  

In fact, this 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 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.

Once the siege was over, the Ceres design was continued, but they were printed in Paris using engraved plates, rather than lithography.  These stamps simply illustrate an adaptation required by extenuating circumstances - something postal historians also love to explore!

One More for the Fun of It

Of course, each of these stories could be told with more detail than I have here.  For example, some have studied the Bordeaux Issue in depth and would probably scoff at my overview here as being far too simplistic.  But, that's not the point of this post - the point is that I want to show you some of the less obvious things that might interest me in any given item.

Our bonus item is much newer than most things I show on Postal History Sunday.

This letter was mailed from Arlington, Virginia on September 30, 1936 and it was flown on the Air Ship Hindenburg to Germany - arriving in Frankfort on October 3.  The Hindenburg made this crossing from Lakehurst, New Jersey to Frankfurt in 58 hours and 2 minutes (about 2.5 days).  

At this time, the postage rate for mail carried by a zeppelin was 40 cents per 1/2 ounce in weight.  Clearly, this item must have been no more than a half ounce.  

By 1936, semi-rigid airships crossing the Atlantic were less newsworthy than they had been just six years earlier.  In the early 1930s, most mail flown on these zeppelins were primarily intended to be souvenirs!  One of our prior Postal History Sundays talks about one such flight to the Arctic Circle in 1931.  But, the novelty was fading in 1936 and the price of sending mail via airship was declining.  A postal historian can find more commercial mail that utilized these flights for the relatively speedy ocean crossing.  The fastest ship crossings at that time might take five days.

Of course, most of you know the Hindenburg for the disastrous landing at Lakehurst on May 6, 1937.  There are some surviving pieces of mail from that flight, but those are reserved for persons with far more dollars than I have.  So, I am satisfied with having this item where the "hook" is that it was, in fact, carried on the Hindenburg during one of its successful flights.  

And, I am good with that!

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Thank you again for joining me for Postal History Sunday.  I hope you enjoyed this post and perhaps you learned something new.

I am always happy to receive feedback and corrections if I have not gotten all of my facts straight.  Sometimes, of course, I gloss over details in the interest of readability, but it is also quite possible I just didn't know something.  That's part of the joy of this whole process - even if you don't learn anything new, I always seem to!

Have a good remainder of the weekend and a fine week upcoming!

Costs of Doing Business - Postal History Sunday

Welcome back to Postal History Sunday, where the farmer takes some time on the GFF Postal History blog to share something he enjoys and we all have a chance to learn something new.

For those who might not have joined us on the blog recently, I continue to recover from surgery to remove my left kidney (Apr 28).  I still find my tolerance for screens and my levels of concentration to be wanting.  So, I'll take a stab at sharing with a little less depth and complexity and we'll see what happens this week.

Mail from the U.S. to Spain 1865

In 1865, Spain was one of the locations in the world that the United States had very limited options for sending and receiving mail.  Of course, that did not stop businesses from corresponding.  And, sometimes we are lucky that a correspondence to a particular business is saved and, eventually, dispersed for collectors like myself to enjoy and learn from.

The business letter sent to Jose Esteban Gomez in Cadiz, Spain shown above, traveled from New York to Queenstown, Ireland and then to London.  From London, the letter traveled through France, likely passing through Paris, on its way to the shared border with Spain. 

As a quick geography refresher, I supply you with the map below that shows the route this letter most likely took as it left London, entered France (at Calais) and then went to the western end of the border shared by France and Spain.  Bayonne would be one of the closest communities on the French side and Irun would be the companion Spanish community.

There are strong connections in postal history to all sorts of other interests, such as cartography (maps), that it is no wonder that I can find it fascinating.  When I find a piece of postal history that goes to or from some place that I am not terribly familiar with, I have a motivation to learn more about that location.  You could think of it as a travel substitute, if you want.  Whatever you call it, it does open my eyes to other cultures and it sure does make it more likely that I'll have some idea where something is on the globe.

Dutton & Townsend of New York sent many business letters to Gomez over a period of ten or so years.  Most of the items available to collectors have had the contents removed.  However, I am lucky to have one that is intact.

Perhaps at a future time, when my brains feel more like concentrating on it, I can give you more information on the content.  But, there is one very interesting highlight:

The author mentions their concerns about the loss of their merchandise at sea, whether it would be due to a storm or because of "rebel pirates."  In early 1865, the threat of Confederate privateers was minimal.  Early enthusiasm for privateering had waned greatly when those private vessels who managed to capture a merchant vessel couldn't get to a Confederate court to collect their reward.  Why take the risk when the award was that uncertain?

Even so, Dutton & Townsend indicated that they had acquired insurance for their cargo.  The account was apparently lucrative enough that it was worth adding this price to the cost of doing business.

What Did It Cost?

In 1865, the United States had no agreement with Spain for the exchange of mail.  This made things a bit more complicated, but the typical solution was to find an intermediary postal service - one that had an agreement with the United States AND an agreement with the destination (Spain).  

France was one such option, and the cost of mail via the French system to Spain was 21 cents per 1/4 ounce.  This item has a 24 cent stamp on it, which would have been enough to cover that postage ... except... this weighed more than 1/4 ounce (and no more than a half ounce).

The second option was to use the agreement the United States had with Britain.  Britain had an agreement with France, who had an agreement with Spain (see how fun this can be?).  The sender in the United States would have to pay for the US postage and the British would worry about securing the postage they needed on the other end. 

In this case, the US postage was 19 cents while 8 reals (8R) were collected from Gomez at the point of delivery.  Of the 8 reals collected, some of that would find its way back to the British and French postal systems via the agreements in place.

This is where I recognize that both Dutton & Townsend and Gomez were not too concerned about pinching pennies when it came to postage.  Nearly every point in time during this ten year period there are options to get a letter mailed for 24 cents or less.  It seems that Dutton & Townsend, just always put a 24 cent stamp on the letter and then let the postal service determine which method would work for the weight of the letter.

The item above must have weighed less than a quarter ounce, so it was sent by the 21 cent per 1/4 ounce French mail option.

And this item was mailed at a later 22 cents per 1/2 ounce letter rate via British mail. 

In every case, there was extra postage paid that was not used.  Depending on the situation, Gomez sometimes had to pay extra postage and sometimes, he did not.  The account must have been lucrative enough that neither party cared to spend the extra energy to save a few pennies on either end.  In fact, some of the letters from this correspondence also show that duplicate letters were often mailed (the word "duplicate" is a docket), perhaps an additional 'insurance' for possible loss at sea?

Whatever the reasons or the logic, I suspect both parties just chalked overpaid postage as a "cost of doing business."

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Thank you for joining me for Postal History Sunday.  As you can guess, this topic could actually go so much deeper and have many more twists and turns.  But, for today, this gives you about as much twisting and turning as I can handle!  Perhaps I will revisit the topic in the future and give it all of the attention it so richly deserves!

Until then, be well and be kind.

They Went Thataway - Postal History Sunday

 Welcome to Postal History Sunday on the GFF Postal History blog.

This week we will dispense with some of the introduction and do some housekeeping.  For those who are unaware, I will have undergone surgery on April 28 to remove one of my kidneys, where a cancerous mass was found.  It was important to me that I continue to offer a Postal History Sunday in the weeks that immediately followed that event, so I took the time to select some topics that were easier to write (for me) and got them written prior to the surgery so I could cue them up for automatic release.  Assuming all went well during that surgery, I expect to return to my regular writing after I recover.

Until then, be well and I hope you enjoy what I offer here.

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When I first started doing the Postal History Sunday posts, I have to admit that I did not anticipate that they would get quite as deep as many of them have gone.  If you look at my first PHS entry, you might be surprised if you compare it to some of the more recent entries, such as this one about the use of 1893 Columbian stamps on packages.  There is no doubt that the more recent posts take much more effort than that first one did - but I don't regret doing the work and I certainly appreciate the feedback and kind words that have been sent my way as I  keep this ball rolling.

This week, I wanted to come back to the idea showing you how I "read" a cover so I can learn how it got from here to there. To do that, I offer up this piece of letter mail from 1866 that was sent from Boston to London for a General W.F. Bartlett.  He apparently was not in London at that time so the letter was forwarded on to Paris.

The Letter Enters the U.S. Mail System

The postage rate was 24 cents for a letter being mailed from the United States to the United Kingdom (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales) for any letter that weighed no more than 1/2 ounce.  The 24 cent stamp showed that the sender had paid the postage required.  The postal clerk used a handstamp to deface the stamp with ink to prevent the stamp from being used a second time.  Postal historians and philatelists call these cancellations.  Some post offices used devices to cancel the stamp that had different designs - like the circle of V's shown here.  Some collectors would call this a fancy cancel.

Some collectors love to pay attention to the amazing breadth of cancellation designs that have been used over the years.  In fact, there have been people who have taken upon themselves to study and catalog all of the known postal markings for specific locations or time periods.  For example, there is a book titled "Boston Postmarks to 1890" by Maurice Blake and Wilbur Davis.  By looking at that book I can see that this particular cancellation was used in Boston at the time this letter was mailed.

If I had to take a guess, I would say that the letter was dropped at the main Boston post office where the foreign mail exchange office for that city was housed.  That could explain the absence of a city postmark in black ink that would normally accompany the cancellation on the stamp.  

The U.S. Exchange Office

If a letter was destined to leave the United States, it had to go to a post office that was designated as an exchange office for the destination country.  In 1866, the year this letter was mailed, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit and Portland (Maine) were all designated as exchange offices for mail departing to the United Kingdom.  The foreign letter office at these locations would place an exchange marking on the envelope like the one in red for Boston that is on this piece of mail.

An exchange marking often provides us with all kinds of interesting information.  In this case, I can see:

1. a date that tells us when the letter was scheduled to leave Boston (Feb 20)
2. Br. Pkt. (British Packet) tells us the ship that would cross the Atlantic was under a contract with the British.
3. that the letter was PAID in full.
4. 19 of the 24 cents of postage were to be passed on to the British postal system.

That certainly is a good amount we can learn from one circular handstamp in red ink!  And, speaking of red ink - that was essentially another indicator that the item was fully prepaid.

Once this marking was applied in the Boston Foreign Mail Exchange Office, the letter was placed in a mailbag that would be destined for the ship once the mail collection period closed.  The bag would be closed securely - not to be opened until it arrived at a corresponding exchange office in the destination country.

Crossing the Atlantic

Postal historians nowadays are fortunate that we have reference books to help us find some of the information that would once have required digging through numerous old newspaper archives to find.  I will be forever grateful for the efforts of Walter Hubbard and Richard Winter and the book, North Atlantic Mail Sailings: 1840-1875.  It is because of their work that I can tell you this letter left Boston on February 20 for New York City.  At New York City, it was placed on the Cunard Line's Australasian, which left on its trans-Atlantic voyage February 21st.

Above is the picture of the Australasian as it was rendered in the Illustrated London News of October 24, 1857 (no. 884 vol XXXI).  While the ship did run on steam, it was also outfitted with masts and sails as a failsafe.

The British Exchange Office

If you guessed that London might be a British exchange office for mail from the United States, you get a prize!

Ok.  It was a pretty easy guess, I know.  But good for you nonetheless.

The mailbag arrived in the London Foreign Letter Office and the mailbag was opened.  As each letter was processed, it received a London exchange mark with a date that indicated the day the bag was opened.  There were actually a few different designs in use during the 1860s, but this one is fairly common for 1866.

At this point, the mail would be sorted to go to its various destinations in the United Kingdom.  This was due to be taken to the Baring Brothers - a large financial institution in London that often provided banking and mail forwarding/holding services for travelers.

Baring Brothers Serving as Forwarding Agent for Mail

The Baring Brothers were actually part of a fairly recent Postal History Sunday titled There and Back Again.  But, as a brief recap, many financial firms provided services for travelers in Europe, such as banking services and mail holding or forwarding.  

Putting it simply, a traveler would pay for this service and it would give those who wished to contact them an address where they could send their mail.  It was then up to the forwarding agent (the Baring Brothers in this case) to either hold on to the mail until the traveler came to the offices to pick it up OR send it on to a location left with them by the traveler.  That location was often with ANOTHER firm that also providing mail forwarding or holding services, as well as banking.

It is not hard to imaging that General W.F. Bartlett may well have left an itinerary with the Baring Brothers with instructions for mail forwarding as he traveled.  Apparently, the instructions on March 5 was - "please send it to me while I am in Paris."

British Exchange Office with France

Baring Brothers had their marching orders for any letters to the General.  So, once they had sorted out the mail they had received for their clients, they probably sent one of their people to the post office to re-mail everything that was to be forwarded.

The Lombard Street post office was probably a ten minute walk from the Baring offices in the Bishopsgate sector of London, so it wasn't all that far away.  And, it just so happens that the Lombard Street post office could serve as an exchange office for mails to and from France.  If you look closely at the marking above, the letters "F.O." stand for "Foreign Office."  

Apparently, the Baring Brothers did pay the postage, even though there are no stamps to show the payment.  Instead, this red circular marking AND the red "4" on the front indicated payment - and the amount of the postage required.

Mail from the United Kingdom to France cost 4 pence for each 1/4 ounce in weight (7.5 grams).  This rate was effective from  Jan 1, 1855 to Jun 30, 1870.

It is interesting to note that the mail between the United States and the British system was rated as 24 cents for the first 1/2 ounce.  So, it would have been very possible for someone to send a letter that would have qualified for a single letter that traveled overseas, but then possibly be a double weight letter from the U.K. to France.

Further evidence that this letter was paid in full for its new destination in Paris is the PD in an oval that appears at the top.

The French Exchange Office

By now, you are likely getting the hang of this.  The letter had been placed in a mailbag at Lombard Street with other mail bound for France.  The bag remained closed as it crossed the English Channel and was opened when it arrived at the French exchange office.

The marking placed on the letter is shown above and it reads "Angl. Amb. Calais G (or C)  6 Mars 66."

The "Angl." simply means it was mail received from England and the date was March 6, 1866.  The "Amb. Calais" portion shows us something different than the other exchange markings.  It turns out that this marking was applied while it was on board a mail car on the train from Calais, France to Paris.  The mail convention between the French and British identified this train, in particular as an exchange office so mail could be sorted even before it reached Paris.

The back of this item has a single, weak marking that shows it arrived in Paris on the same day (March 6).  This last marking would have been applied by the Paris post office to indicate its arrival at the destination.

John Munroe & Company - Paris

John Munroe & Co was a banking firm that was established in New York and opened a subsidiary in Paris during the year 1851.  They specialized in transactions between the French, British and Americans, which made their company a logical choice for a traveler from the United States.

This time around, it seems as if the letter was held for General Bartlett until he picked it up in Paris. We cannot be certain that this is the case, because there is no docketing or letter contents to confirm this guess.  But, it is the simplest choice and is supported by other, outside documentation.

General William Francis Bartlett's Travels

William Francis Bartlett (June 6, 1840 – December 17, 1876) turns out to be a fairly easy individual to track down in the annals of history.  The Memoir of William Francis Bartlett by Francis Winthrop Palfrey was published in 1878 and is available for free on babel.  For those who might become interested in his story, I suggest you go there.  I, personally have only skimmed portions of the content as I was looking for specific information.

Bartlett was wounded multiple times during his service with the Union in the Civil War, losing his leg fairly early in the conflict.  Despite this loss, he returned to duty and climbed the ranks, despite having to rely on a prosthetic leg to replace what he'd lost in battle.  He was captured in 1865 when his prosthetic was hit by some sort of opposing fire and he could not retreat with his men.

He was still technically on active duty in 1866, but his command had been "mustered out" (dismantled).  Apparently, he was able to secure leave from then Secretary of War Stanton so he could travel in Europe for six months.  The beginning of his letter is shown below, but the entirety is presented starting on page 168 of his Memoir.

To make the story shorter, leave was granted, probably without pay and Frank Bartlett was allowed to leave the country and travel Europe.

At the time this letter arrived in London (March 5), Bartlett has begun a tour of southern France and Italy, not staying in any one location for terribly long.  He even visited Garibaldi in the latter's home briefly.  He returned taking a route via Switzerland, visiting Geneva along the way.

Because of his transitory nature at this time AND the fact that he was not conducting business other than that of a tourist, it is highly likely mail was held for him during this period.  An alternative, of course, is that a courier carried a packet of letters to some location at a mid-point in his travels, but there can be no proof of that unless there are hints in the Memoir.

note: photo of Bartlett taken from the front of his Memoir as scanned at the link given in the text above.

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Once again, you have spent some quality time - possibly learning something new - while I share something I enjoy with a Postal History Sunday post.  I hope you enjoyed it and that you have a fine remainder of your day