Britiish Solomon Islands: Aerogramme #1

#1 - Uprated with a 1c stamp to meet the 9c aerogramme rate.
 
Sent from Honiara (25 Ap 74) to the UK.

Sierra Leone: New 9½c Aerogramm Rate in 1968

NWK #10/IIY - 7c aerogramme without approval imprint on reverse, no watermark. Sent from Blama (26 Ap 68) to the US.

Uprated with stamps of a total value of 2½c to meet the new 9½c aerogramme rate.

UK: 6d Aerogramme Used in Australia in 1949

UK 6d air letter, uprated with an 1d Australian stamp, and sent from Prahran (8 AU 49) in Victoria, Australia, to Germany.

The 1d stamp most likely was added because Australia’s air letter rate was 7d.

Interestingly not taxed by the Australian postal authorities.

Fiji: Privately Manufactured Aerogramme Form

Privately manufactured aerogramme form (Croxley aerogramme form - Form approved by Postmaster-General No 71995/IZ) sent from Nadi (4 JA 72) to Australia (5c rate).

Printed letter head of Skylodge, Nadi International Airport.

UK: 1972 Christmas Aerogramme Presentation Poster

Presentation poster for the 1972 UK Christmas aerogramme (Greiner/Greiner #54).

UK: 1970 Christmas Aerogramme Presentation Poster

Presentation poster for the 1970 UK Christmas aerogramme (Greiner/Greiner # 47)

UK: 1969 Christmas Aerogramme Presentation Poster

Presentation poster for the 1969 Christmas aerogramme (Greiner/Greiner #45).

Rhodesia & Nyasaland: Underpaid Aerogramme Diverted to Surface Mail

Rhodesia and Nyasaland 6d aerogramme sent for Zomba (25 JUN 57) to the US. As the aerogramme rate to the US was 1s, the aerogramme was short paid by 6d, i.e. 50%.

Two-line instructional handstamp “Withdrawn from Air Mail / By Surface Route” to indicate transfer by surface mail.

Australia: Privately Manufactured Aerogramme Form, New Subtype of #14.2

The permit holder for license #14 was QANTAS Empire Airways Limited.

Cornish #14.2 (New subtype - No QANTAS logo below the “By Air Mail” box).

Light-blue paper with blue overlay and blue printing, IMPERIAL AIR MAIL watermark, year code „C“ for 1950. Stamp box omitted from overlay.
 
Sent from Calcutta (27 APR 52), India, to the US. Instructional handstamp “Sunday Posting Detained”. Franked at 10 AS.

Gibraltar: 1969 6d Aerogramme

Greiner/Greiner #5 (150 x 106 mm). Sent on 11 NOV 1969 to Karachi, Pakistan.
Commercially used copies like this are quite uncommon.

 

UK: 1979 Sir Rowland Hill Centeneray Airletter Presentation Poster

Presentation poster for the 1979 Sir Rowland Hill Centenary aerogramme (Greiner/Greiner #85)

UK: Air Letter to Jamaica, Forwarded to Trinidad

Greiner/Greiner #10 (“R” of “Air Letter” extends beyond the “By Air Mail” box; “T” of “Sent” is centered vertically below “ET” of “Letter”)

Sent from Knockholt (7 FEB 53) to Jamaica. The addressee has already left and moved to Trinidad. Franked with a 6d Jamaica stamp and forwarded from Myrtle Bank (FE 12 53) to the new address where it arrived two days later (receiving cancels on reverse).

Canada: 1944 Air Letter with "Onwards Air Transmission" Instructional Handstamp.

Canadian Armed Forces air letter form used for civilian communication.

The air letter was originally posted unpaid on 26th December 1944. The postal authorities marked the air letter with "Returned for Postage" and returned it to the sender.  The air letter was posted again, with the correct 10 cents franking for India, on 28th December. This is a bit difficult to see, as the two machine cancels overlap.

Also, the air letter received a "O. A. T" (Onwards Air Transmission") handstamp.

"It is thought that an OAT cachet was applied to the top letter of a tied bundle of up to 60 letters. These bundles always travelled in open mail bags to a single intermediate or final destination, but where the quantity of mail was insufficient to warrant a closed bag. Closed mail bags did not attract OAT markings, as the whole bag was sealed and all letters went to the one destination as marked on the outside of the bag. Open mail bags were resorted en route as required and bundles replaced into other bags for the next section of their journey."

(Source: The Philatelic Database, http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/great-britain/onward-air-transmission/)

Singapore: Aeogramme sent to the US by Express Delivery Service

Wiegand #26 (Lines for sender’s address on top sealing flap). 

Uprated with $1.50 to pay for express delivery service to the US.

UK: Press Release and Photo for 1995 Christmas Aerogramme

Ceylon: WWII Air Mail Letter Card to Canada

Military Air Mail Letter Card sent from Ceylon (R.A.F. Base P.O, no date) to Toronto, Canada.
This letter was sent via Lagos, Nigeria, to the US and Canada.

Single-ring instructional handstamp “Canada and U.S.A. only”, presumably added by the R.A.F. Base P.O in Colombo to allow for easier sorting at the Lagos intermediate stop.

Required postage was 75 cent (Ceylon) or 25 cent (Canadian), so overpaid by 3 cent.

Indian Military Air Letter Form: Paquebot Cancel

 

Indian military air letter form used by a passenger on board P&O liner "Canton" on its way to London. Written on 31st May 1946 "in the Read Sea somewhere in line with Mecca".

It is the 55th Printing of Br. India 1944 Forces Air Letter Sheet
(Form No. I.A.F.F.‒1083) [Lee type IF sub-type 32/Lang ALS9 (ex-FL5)],
printed in 1946 by Shri Saraswati Press Limited, Kolkata.

The sender of this air letter form asked the addressee to "keep the letter for me as the stamps - British - will be posted abroad, i.e. from Suez which is the next port of call".

The "Canton" was supposed to reach Southampton on "Whit Sunday or Monday", i.e. 9th or 10 June 1946.

However, the air letter was cancelled London F.S. Paquebot (25 Jun 46). It should have received the Suez paquebot cancel when it really had entered the mailstream there.

It looks like the air letter did not leave the ship (or it did in a closed mailbag ) but was carried all the way to London where it finally was posted.

Franked at 1s, the air letter is overpaid by 6d.

Credits: Thank you, Joy Daschaudhuri, fort he excelent information on the type of the air letter form. 

Zimbabwe: 1985 Aerogramme Form Sent Unpaid to the UK

 

Aerogramme form sent unpaid from Hararae, Zimbabwe, on 9 SEP 1985 to the UK. Taxed "18 / 20", which is 18 cent for the missing postage in the tax fraction's numerator and 20 cent for Zimbabwe's UPU letter rate in the denominator.

Marked "Insufficient prepaid for / Transmission by airmail"

In the UK, this tax fraction was multiplied with the UPU letter rate (22p), yielding 19.8p. Consequently, 19p were noted as the postage due in the boxed taxation handstamp. In accordance with UPU's Lausanne taxation system a handling surcharge of 25p was added for a total postage due of 44p.

Japan 1953 "Revisée 45" Reduction in Postage

 

Japan Wiegand #11b. The overprint documents a reduction of postage (those were the days!)

Iraq: 1963 King Faisal II Aerogrammes

In 1963, Iraq prepared two aerogrammes (14 Fils green, 35 Fils red) with the indicium showing a portrait of King Faisal II. The 1963 coup of the Baath party came into the way of these aerogrammes to be used as they were.

Wiegand's (2000) "Katalog der Aerogramme von Asien" states that those two aerogrammes were never sold at post offices and were not valid for posting. Wiegand writes that the aerogrammes were only sold with an overprint OR with a stamp affixed that covers the indicium.

According to Wiegand, the version with the overprint is scarcer than the one with the stamp covering the indicium.

I came across a copy that has both the overprint AND the stamp covering the indicium.

This is how the overprint looks like (most likely, the stamp has been removed from this one):

 

And this is the aerogramme which has both the overprint and the stamp covering the indicium.

 

  

Close-up of the indicium area as seen from the aerogramme's writing panel.

Ceylon: 80c Lioncel Aerogramme Issued 1971

The rare last aerogramme of Ceylon (80c Lioncel with "Ceylon for Quality Teas" imprint, Wiegand #29), issued in 1971. Used in 1973, i.e. after the Republic of Sri Lanka was established in May 1972.

Ceylon: Late Usage of OHMS Aerogramme

O.H.M.S. aerogramme form sent from Royal Botanic Gardens at Peradeniya (22. 2. 72) to France with red „Colombo Official Paid“ circular handstamp of 23 FE 72.

Very thin paper, IMPERIAL AIR MAIL watermark, year code „E“ below „AIR MAIL“ for 1971.

Late usage of a Ceylon O.H.M.S. aerogramme as Ceylon became a republic under the name of Sri Lanka in May 1972.

British Guyana: Post-independence Use of 1960 Aerogramme

British Guyana 6 cents aerogramme NGK#11, issued 1960, commercially used in 1971 post-indepedence, uprated with a cut-out from another aerogramme and a 3 cents Guyana stamp to pay the 15 cents aerogramme rate at the time of posting.

Printed letterhead of the Geological Survey Department on the writing panel.

Ceylon: Short Paid Aerogramme to Canada 1959

Ceylon 40 cents aerogramme uprated with a 10 cents stamp and sent from Kandy (9 11 59) to Vancouver, Canada.

The aerogramme was taxed 13 UPU ctms short paid and attracted a 4 cents postage due in Canada.
At the time of posting, the aerogramme rate to Canada was 60 cents. Double the deficiency (20 cents) was converted to UPU ctms at 10 cents = 6.5 UPU ctms.

Upon arrival in Canada, the 4 cents postage due was calculated based on a conversion rate of 1 cent = 3 UPU ctms.

Boxed “4 cents due” handstamp in red and a 4 cents postage due stamp added.

South Africa: Aerogramme containing an enclosure

Sent from Cape Town (25 VI 1971) to Detmold, Germany, the aerogramme contained an enclosure. Boxed bilingual instructional handstamp „Contrary to Regulations“.

As an air mail letter, the item was short paid 10c, which was endorsed below the indicium. The item was returned to the sender who paid the missing 10c at the post office (red “Postage paid” handstamp).

Tonga: 1949 Air Mail Letter Card

Tonga Air Mail Letter Card sent from Nuku'alofa (27 JL 49) to Auckland, New Zealand. Franked at the 3d rate.

Swaziland: 1953 Aerogramme Franked at Air Mail Letter Rate

This is NGK #14 sent from Mbabane (29 AUG 53)  to Australia. Interestingly, the stamps on the back panel were cancelled at Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland, whereas the stamps on the front panel were all cancelled at Johannesburg (31 VIII 53). 

Franked at 2s 6d air mail letter rate, because the aerogramme most likely contained an enclosure.

Pakistan: Underpaid Aerogramme, Missing Postage Collected from Sender

Franked at 50 Paisa and sent to Milwaukee (Wisconsin), US, on 17 NOV 1970.

At the time of posting, the aerogramme rate to the US was 60 Paisa. The missing 10 Paisa were collected from the sender.

Instruction handstamp „Underpaid / Return … / Please Affix / … Paisa / Stamp More“, manually endorsed "10" (Paisa).

UK: 1960 Aerogramme Form Taxed and Diverted to Surface Mail

Franked at 3d and sent to Farmington (Connecticut), US, from Peckham (25 FEB 1960).

At the time of posting, the aerogramme rate was 6d. Hence, only 50 % of the required rate were paid. According to the UPU rules, the air letter was treated as an ordinary letter, for which the rate would have been 6d up to 1oz.

Country of origin: Octagonal „T“ handstamp, endorsed „21c“. 6d double deficiency converted into UPU centimes at a rate of 1d = 3.5 UPU centimes.

Country of destination: Postage due handstamp „Due 7 cents“ applied in the US. Postage due converted at a rate of 3 UPU centimes = 1 cent.

1957 Ottawa UPU Convention: „Items of air-mail correspondence on which the charges paid do not represent at least the amount of the air surcharge or, as the case may be, 75 per cent of the air surcharge or the combined charge, are treated in accordance with Articles 52 and 55 of the Convention.“ (Provisions Concerning Air Mails, Article 6)