Australia: Bogus Postage Due Aerogramme

Postage due aerogrammes attract both aerogramme and postal history collectors and are worth a premium. Sometimes, forgers affix postage due stamps to pimp ordinary aerogrammes.

Sent from Melbourne (5 FEB 1957) to Tel-Aviv, Israel. Two red „T“ handstamps, but no other taxation marks. Two postage due stamps with a total value of 105 pruta.

The red „T“ handstamps appear to be rubber handstamps never used in Australia. The cancels do not tie the postage due stamps to the aerogramme and the cancels even do not align.

Also, the 105 pruta postage due does not make any sense. The only reason for a taxation in Australia could have been an enclosure. The aerogramme, then, should have been marked accordingly. With an enclosure, the aerogramme would have been subject to air mail letter rate.

The air mail letter rate to Israel was 2 s in 1957, which would have made the aerogramme 1 s 2 d short-paid. Double the deficieny 2 s 4 d, then, would have been postage due.

The surface mail letter rate (7 ½ d) equivalent was 20 UPU centimes. The postage due in UPU centimes would have been 74 ⅔. The international surface mail rate in Israel was 120 pruta, which means 1 UPU centimes = 6 pruta. The postage due, then, would have been 448 pruta.