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.

Southern Rhodesia: Short-paid Aerogramme / Taxation Misread in Country of Destination

 

Southern Rhodesia 6d aerogramme sent from R.A.F. Heany in March 1953 to Cambrai, France, where it arrived on 14 March 1953.

At the time of posting, the air letter rate to France was 7½d. Hence, the air letter was short-paid 1½ d. Double deficiency (3d) was converted into 10.8 UPU centimes (1d = 3.6 ctms).

The 50 F equivalent - 1,67 times the French UPU letter rate - calculated by the French postal authorities suggests that they have read the taxation as 108 ctms instead of 10.8 ctms.

Australia: 40 cent Aerogramme Double Printing of Blue Color

This is the 1983 40-cent "Hot Air Ballooning" aerogramme (Roggenkämper/Russ/Wiegand #64) with a double printing of the blue color.

I have never seen this before.

 

Fiji: Underpaid Aerogramme Diverted to Surface Mail

 

6d aerogramme sent from Levuka (14 MR 66) to Germany. The aerogramme rate to European destinations was 10d. As less than 75% of the rate had been prepaid, the aerogramme was diverted to surface mail in accordance with the regulations set by the 1964 Vienna UPU congress.

Australia: 10c Aerogramme with Enclosure

10c aerogramme with sender’s endorsement „- Please do not fold, pictures are enclosed -“. Consequentially, the sender uprated the aerogramme with a 10c stamp to pay the 20c air mail letter rate to Vietnam at the time of posting (September 1970).

Ethiopia: Aerogramme Parcel Label

 

This label indicates the contents of a package of 500 of the 55-cent Ethiopian aerogrammes. Most of these were thrown away at post offices when a new package was opened.

In more than 30 years of collecting aerogrammes, I have never come across one of these from Ethiopia. Elsewhere on the blog, I have a similar one from Nepal, which I consider equivalently rare.

Berlin: Aerogramme with enclosure uprated to air mail letter rate but with invalid stamp

 

Berlin aerogramme #5 sent from Berlin (23. 6. 50) to Tel-Aviv, Israel. The aerogramme contained an enclosure, as the item’s weight was marked as 14 g in the lower right corner next to the stamp. The 75 Pfg. Saar stamp was not valid for postage in Berlin, which explains the „Ungültig“ (invalid) endorsement in red crayon.

However, it remains unclear why the 60 Pfg. indicium was crossed out, as the aerogramme was valid at the time of posting.

For an ordinary air mail letter to Israel, the postage would have been 30 Pfg. UPU letter rate plus 2x50 Pfg. air mail surcharge. This would have resulted in a double deficiency of 140 Pfg. for a short-paid ordinary air mail letter.

The taxation marks seems to be a tax fraction: T 6 / 13. The only idea I have about this taxation is that the fraction represents the postage prepaid (60 as a numerator) over the required postage (130 as a denominator): 60 / 130 = 6 / 13. However, this was contrary to the UPU rules of taxation.

No apparent postage due handling in Israel.

Kenya, Uganda & Tanganyika: Enclosure / Taxed in country of destination

 Enclosures were not allowed in aerogrammes.

Aerogramme form sent from Kampala (15 DEC 1959) to the UK. The enclosure (stamps as per the message on the writing panel) was detected only upon arrival at the UK .“Enclosure” endorsed with red crayon and a boxed green instructional handstamp “LIABLE TO LETTER RATE I.S.” applied.

Taxed as a short-paid air mail letter upon arrival. The air mail letter rate from KUT to the UK was 130 cent, so the item was short-paid , which was endorsed as T 80 IFC. 

The item was taxed 1s 6½d postage due, documented by two green tax handstamps (1s 6d, ½d).

At the time of posting, the UK used its own scheme of calculating the postage due on incoming mail. Double the deficiency in the country of origin's currency had to be multiplied with the ratio of the letter rate equivalent in form P114E (3½d) and the UPU letter rate (30c) of the country of origin.

Postage due = 3.5 x 160/30 = 18.67d rounded to the nearest ½d = 1s 6½d. 

No postage due stamps.

This item has been discussed in the Journal of the Postage Due Study Group, vol. 98 and 99, 2021.

Malaya: Short-paid aerogramme form diverted to surface mail

Aerogramme form (dated inside 1 July 1956) sent from Johore Bahru, Malaya, to Redwood City, US.

Franked only at the UPU surface rate of 20c.

Aerogramme type designation and routing instruction voided with blue crayon and aerogramme form diverted to surface mail. 

New Zealand: Short-paid aerogramme form

New Zealand air letter form sent from Christchurch (5 JE 48) to the UK. Prepaid at 6d, the air letter was short paid by 2d for the 8d air letter rate.

Taxation handstamp „To Pay / 4d / Deficient Postage“ but contrary to UPU regulations no conversion of this amount into UPU centimes. No apparent postage due handling in the UK.

Australia Lloyd Triestino Aerogramme Form

Lloyd Triestino private aerogramme from.

The stamp was removed or has fallen off.

 The "Approved for acceptance as Aerogramme" date is unknown

Printed by Marchant & Co., Broadway, N.S.W

N. Cornish 9.6a

Australia: Unknown SPECIMEN aerogramme

Never sold by Australia Post. The BrusdenWhite only mentions a SPECIMEN imprint in purple, but diagonally inverted. Stein and Roggenkämper do not know the aerogram.

(In addition, there are 3 red UPU overprints in private hands, also BrusdenWhite)

There is, however, a small number of these purple copy aerogrammes in the hands of collectors, but no one knows how many or how they were created.

"The conjecture is that a number of the 10d issue were mixed with the OHMS version of this aerogramme produced for official use. This aerogram was issued on August 1, 1960 and sold to collectors at 6d each."

Details on Stampboards.

Post provided by: Sammlerring Australia, Germany.