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1940 Covers & Postal History Manchukuo Year 7 康德 Kāngdé |
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Roosevelt Collection Cover.
This cover was part of a collection owned by Franklin D. Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) 32nd President of the United States and a keen stamp collector. Roosevelt died in office in 1945 and Harmer's sold his collection by auction in New York in 1946. The red hand stamp of authenticity was applied at this time. Sadly in the case of this cover someone has removed the consular seals. This collection was vast and so finding examples is not as rare as you might think. The cover was posted from 奉天三經路 Mukden Third Road Post Office on 11th November 1940 where it received a poorly applied native postmark. From there it was transferred to Mukden Central Post Office where the Registration label 203 and the international postmark were applied. The cover continued its journey on 13th November 1940 and arrived in Chicago Dec 9 1940 and finally in Washington on Dec 10 1940 a transit time of 30 days. The postage applied to this cover amounts to 72 fen. This is correct. The letter rate was 20f + 16f for registration, this is a large envelope so the remaining 36f is made up of 3 x 12f excess weight payments indicating that the total weight for the letter was no more than 80g.
Insufficient Postage Label.
This card was returned to the sender due to insufficient postage. The card was addressed to North China Expedition, Hasegawa (Gi) Unit, Kubozoe Unit, Usui Unit, Mr. Takeuchi Shirou, presumably in China. From the postmark the card seems to have been posted from Yingkow. At this time, 8th August 1940 the postage for a postcard to China was 2½f, a deficiency of ½f, this resulted in the post office returning the card to the sender with the attached slip.
Registered Military Post to Japan
This letter was posted from the Mudanjiang by the 24th Military based in 隹木斯 Jiamusi to 名古屋市 Nagoya in Japan. Top left in red is the standard Military Post hand-stamp and below this a censor box showing that the contents have been passed by Tao Yuan. The red two character hand-stamp reads "Registered" and the boxed red hand-stamp shows that the letter was handled by the 4th Military Post, presumably they transferred the letter from Jiamusi to Mudanjiang. This mail is likely to come from a low ranking army member, officers were allowed to send letters free of charge, whereas the lower ranks were limited to cards. The postage is correct, the 4f letter rate plus registration at 8f.
Mail from Manchukuo
with Egyptian Wartime
Censor Tape
This cover is interesting because it shows that a
letter posted on 30th May 1940 to a bicycle dealer in Paris
travelled from Harbin via Suez an unusual route. The postage is
correct at 20f. The reverse side of the letter which can be seen
here,
shows that it was intercepted in Egypt and sent to Cairo to be
censored. A transit postmark for Cairo is dated 8th November 1940
almost six months after leaving Harbin. The Italians invaded Egypt
in September 1940 and this is a probable reason for this letter
being opened and censored. The letter appears to have
reached Paris but a note in pencil "non St Etienne" shows that the
Company had moved. There is no arrival postmark for Paris so the
total transit time is unknown.
Registered
Cover from Liao Yang
This is a registered cover posted from
Liao Yang
to the Sumitomo Trust Co in Osaka, Japan. The cover has a red boxed
"Registered" hand-stamp and a blue registration number
遼陽823.
The cover has a single 12f stamp, 4f letter post to Japan and 8f
registration fee. The postmark shows that the letter was posted in
Liaoyang on the morning of 12th July 1940 and the circular red
Sumitomo Trust Co dater shows that they received the letter on the
morning of 17th July 1940, a transit time of 5 days.
A Registered Cover to China
This is a domestic cover and the
registration shows it was sent from on 26th June
1940 with a commemorative cancel reading
皇帝陛下訪日紀念
Commemorating the Emperor’s Visit to Japan. The cover is
addressed to 济南城内西基文街一号 (Jinan city area West Base (?) Wen
Road No. 1). Jinan is a Chinese city in the south, in
Shandong area.
Receiver is 王育和先生 Mr. Wang
Yuhe. The cover
shows a registration hand-stamp
新京
三道街
or Hsinking, Third Street Post Office.
The postage on the front of the cover is
correct, 5f for the letter (the rate to China) and 8f for registration making a total of
13f.
This cover was sent from Harbin in
Manchukuo to Tientsin in China on 20th September 1940, an arrival
postmark on the reverse shows that it arrived on 22nd September only
two days later. The red commemorative cancel celebrates 2,600 years
of Japanese Empire. The cover shows a registration hand-stamp
哈爾濱 中央大街 043
or
Harbin Central Avenue Post Office.
The postage on the front of the cover is
correct, 5f for the letter (the rate to China) and 8f for registration making a total of
13f. The above is a good demonstration of why stamps of these
denomination were needed although a 13f China Mail stamp was
available and could have been used.
International Printed Matter Cover
This is a printed matter cover sent by
the stamp dealer
Ivan Malicheff in Harbin to his customer Mr Kun in
Hungary. The cover has a Harbin international date stamp for 15th
October 1940 and the rate of 4f is correct for printed matter up to
50g. The reverse side of the envelope is blank.
International Commercial Covers - Standard Letter Rate to
U.S.A.
Sent 7th December 1940 this is a
standard 20g letter to America at the correct rate of 20 fen. It
appears that RCA Victor had an outpost in Manchuria, probably a
Japanese affiliate.
Sent 14th December 1940 from
朝陽
Chaoyang where it received a native
postmark, then on to Mukden where it received an international
postmark. From there to the U.S.A.
The Atlee Burpee Company still exist in
Philadelphia. This envelope was probably enclosed within a seed
catalogue along with an order form. The customer, Mr Grubb no doubt
used it to send in his order for that seasons seeds.
International Cover with Extra Weight and US
Customs Confusion.
This is a part cover or wrapper sent to
the stamp dealer Harry Tamer in New Jersey. This mail was sent
registered from Harbin on 29th February 1940 although the number was
changed at Mukden.
The cover postage totals 96f. From the
price charged for postage we can calculate the weight which would
have been somewhere between 100g and 120g. In February 1940 the
first 20g would cost 20f with subsequent additions of 20g costing an
extra 12f each (x5), add to this registration at 16f and the total
amounts to 96f.
It is clear that US Customs were unsure
about duties (no change there) and after the application of a series
of purple hand-stamps decided that no duty was payable.
Incoming Mail from Germany
The word Geprüft
means tested in English, maybe a term for censored.
Outgoing Mail to Germany
This cover was sent
from Harbin on 11th March 1940 to a customer in Markneukirchen in
Germany and as shown by the arrival date stamp reading 28th March
1940 the transit time was 17 days. This is a little slow as other
covers I have seen indicate an average delivery time of about 11 to
13 days. The delay may have been due to the intervention of the
censor. Business Documents or
Business Papers was a special class of postage. The cost of posting
was 20f, the same as a normal letter, but in the case of Business
Papers the weight could be anything up to 250g instead of the
20g letter weight. Added to this is the 16f registration fee making
a total of 36f for the correct postage. The Yokohama Specie
Bank fulfilled the role of the Central Bank in Manchukuo and the red
seals are typical of covers sent by that organisation.
Registered Cover to Italy
This cover entered the
postal system at 三十家子
San-shih-chia-tzu on 25th March 1940 as shown by the domestic
postmark and registration label number 94. When the cover passed
through Harbin an international registration number 635 was added
and the previous registration number crossed out. The cover carries
a red
掛號
hand-stamp reading registered in Chinese and a second black
boxed hand-stamp that reads registered in both Chinese and
Japanese. The handwritten characters in blue
大西洋
mean Atlantic.
The postage of 39f is incorrect, at this
time a letter to Italy would cost 20f with an additional 16f to have
it registered. Postage has been overpaid by 3f. It should be noted
that this is not an airmail letter.
From the arrival postmarks we see that
the letter arrived in Venice on 15th April 1940 and in Rome for
delivery on 16th April 1940. A transit time of 23 days.
Reply Card to Japan
This is the "Outward" part of a
reply card sent to Japan containing a "Temporary Notice by the
Directors of the Manchurian Electrical Co, Hsinking" this can be
seen here. It passed
through Hsinking Central Post Office on 5th March 1940and is
addressed to a Mr
Nakagawa in Japan.
Used reply cards are hard to find as they made up a
very small percentage of the postal matter and were seldom retained.
In this instance the postage of 2f each was was correct for this
period and the fact that the "Reply" section is missing indicates
that this part was also used.
Missionary Postcard To Korea
Sent on 8th May 1940 this is a postcard
sent from a missionary in 龍井(村)
Lung-ching-(ts'un),
Manchukuo to a friend in 淸州市 Cheongju, which is now North Korea. The
postage of 2f is correct for this time. A blue pencil marking
龍井has been added to guide the card to
the correct town.
Registered
First Day
Cover to China
Specially produced First Day Cover with
commemorative overprint (Zirkle
50) and censor chop. This FDC came with a letter of explanation from
the dealer to see this click
here. The Yee Tsoong Tobacco Co
made the Chienmen brand of cigarettes. I have found no evidence that
these were available in Manchukuo.
The postage shown is incorrect although
the purpose of the cover negates this from being an issue. The
correct postage would have been 5f letter rate + 8f registration a
total of 13f.
Registered
First Day
Covers Sent by John V Sweet to America
This is an example of a First day
Cover sent from
John V Sweet of Harbin to
Harry Tamer a stamp dealer in New
Milford in the USA. The above cover has the correct postage, 20f
international Letter Rate + 16f for registration a total of 36f. In
this instance the cover was posted on 26th June 1940 and delivered
on 18th July, a transit time of 23 days.
This cover is almost identical to the
one which featured in the December 1985 copy of Japanese Philately
(Vol:40, No 6, Page 281). This article shows the cover with the
registration number 416, amongst several points raised by the author
is the fact that a domestic registration label is used.
The correct International label carries a red "R" in line with U.P.U. regulations. These were readily available as you will see if
you look at the cover below, my assumption is that the wrong label
was applied by mistake.
This is another example of a First day
Cover sent from
John V Sweet sent fro Harbin to a collector in San
Francisco, USA. The interesting point to note here is the double
registration label. Manchukuo worked hard to impress upon the U.P.U. that
their Postal Service adhered to U.P.U. rules. In this case however
the additional registration label added in Mukden was a clear
breach, as all mail was supposed to travel from start to finish
using the same registration number. This case is not unusual, most
mail (including the Harry Tamar cover above) had the registration
number changed in Mukden. I have no idea why.
The above cover has the correct postage,
20f international Letter Rate + 16f for registration a total of 36f.
In this instance the cover was posted on 19th September 1940 and
delivered on 10th October, a transit time of 21 days. I have another
FDC posted to Mr Clary by a dealer in Mukden on the 20th September
this also arrived on 10the October a transit time of 20 days.
Japanese Postage Stamp Society First Day Cover
Japanese Postage Stamp Association First Day Cover with
commemorative cancel and slogans. Sent from Hsinking to Mukden. |
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