UK 9d Aerogramme Invalid After Decimalization - Taxed as Unpaid

 

UK 9d aerogramme (front only) sent to Australia in 1972 after pre-decimal stamps and postal stationery had been demonetized. 

Two-line instructional red handstamp „£.S.D Postage Stamps / Invalid from 1st March 1972“ and „By Air Mail“ routing instruction voided with a red six-bars handstamp. Diverted to surface mail.

Treated as a short-paid surface mail letter (3d Empire rate). Purple, boxed taxation handstamp, with a double deficiency of 6p added.

In Australia, a 6c postage due was calculated and paid by a 6c stamp at the Selby post office on October 23, 1972l

This postage due is strange as the tax fraction had to be multiplied with Australia’s UPU letter rate (10c) which should have resulted in a 6/5 x 10c = 12c deficiency. For an unknown reason, only the single deficiency, not the double deficiency was collected from the addressee.

UK Aerogramme Damaged in Transit

UK #136a Postage Paid. Sent from Oxford (? AUG 1994) to Skopje, Macedonia.

Received a boxed purple instruction handstamp on arrival stating the item had been damaged in transit.

 

Gilbert&Ellice Islands: "Official Postage Free" Handstamp

 

Apsley Aerogramme form with „Post Office Tarawa/ Official Postage Free" handstamp and Tarawa cds (2 SEP 69) sent to the US.

South Africa: Missing Postage Collected from Sender

 

South Africa 5c aerogramme posted at Cape Town (25-X 1970) to Canada.

The aerogramme rate to Canada was 10c. Therefore, the aerogramme was returned to the sender who paid the missing postage in cash at the post office: red „Postage Paid“ handstamp.

USA Underpaid Aerogramme: Attempted Cross-border Collection of Postage Due

 

USA 15c aerogramme posted at Fort Fairfield, Maine, in the United States by a sender who lived just across the Canadian border in Perth, New Brunswick, in July 1974. Since the aerogramme rate was 18c, the item got a slip of paper attached reminding the sender to re-post the aerogramme with the missing 3c paid.

As no sign of payment of the missing postage is visible, the attempt most likely had failed.

As the rate indication is "per half ounce" the hectographed slip of paper was prepared for air mail letters, not for aerogrammes.

Southern Rhodesia: Posted on First Day of Issue

 

Air letter #1 sent on the first day of issue (25 OCT 44)  from Bulawayo to Ireland. Censored twice.

Major Creasy, the sender of this air letter, was a well-known philatelist specializing in airgraphs and, as we can see here, also in air letters.

Source: Caterall, J. (1993). Airgraph Service During World War 2, RunnerPost, No. 30 (March)

Rhodesia Aerogramme Form Unpaid and Diverted to Surface Mail

 

Rhodesia aerogramme form posted unpaid from the Postmaster’s Office at Salisbury (16 SEP 1968) to the USA.

Interestingly, the Postmaster’s Office did not apply an „Official Paid“ or „On Postal Service“ handstamp,  as usually done.

The unpaid aerogramme then was marked with the instructional handstamp „Insufficient Postage for Airmail / Forwarded by Surface Mail“ and a „To Pay“ handstamp with a „12/6“ taxation in red.

Although the denominator „6“ seems to be voided by scribbling, it is the correct taxation as 6d was Rhodesia’s UPU letter rate at the time of posting.

No apparent postage due handling in the USA.

The addressee, J. Gorman, is a well-known collector of "Official Paid" aerogrammes.

South Africa Aerogramme "Damaged by Cancelling Machine"

 

6d aerogramme with instructional handstamp „Damaged by Cancelling Machine“ and several „Officially Sealed“ labels applied by the US Post Office Department.

USA Aerogramme Used in the UK

 

USA aerogramme posted at Prestwich (27 AUG 1975) in the UK to the USA. 

The 18 cents aerogramme was first erroneously marked with an instructional handstamp „Contains enclosure“ and then with the correct „Postage invalid / Diverted to / Surface route / Manchester F.S.“

No obvious postage due handling in the USA.