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.

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.

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.

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/)

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.

Malawi
Unpaid Aerogramme Endorsed "Pay Forward"

This aerogramme form was sent unstamped from NTAJA, Malawi (cds 20 Jan 1989) to Karachi, Pakistan. The sender endorsed "PAY FORWARD" in a stamps' stead.

The most likely meaning is "Pay it Forward". According to Wikipedia, "Pay it forward is asking the beneficiary of a good deed to repay it to others instead of to the original benefactor". Here, the sender asked the Post Office to pass on the aerogramme for free, which they did, though, after taxing the aerogramme "35/35" tambala, the Malawian currency.

There are no signs that the postage due was collected by the Pakistani postal authorities. So, it is still in the realm of possibility that the Pakistani postal authorities did the good deed the sender has asked for. If not, it finally was the addressee who paid the amount postage due.


Credits
Thank you, stampboard members HayeSmyth, psestamp and GlenStephens for pointing me to the concept of "Pay it forward". The stampboards thread related is here.