Worldwide Postage Due Scans

Republic of China, 1904 1st London Printing.

Very nice Stallzer,
not seen the full set before,
images stolen for my database

Are they slightly toned?
or is that the scanner?

Unfortunately they are toned, could be from the original gum, could be the paper also. But still they are a very fresh set, it took me a while to find this set as they don't come around often. Glad I could help out your database :)

Here is the latest addition to my collection, genuine usage of postage dues from these small countries are difficult to find and that is reflected in the prices they achieve.

I'm waiting for delivery of this cover too

Wow! nice ones.
The first is a doozy, like the "no stamps on ilsland"
and the cover was returned!
That has to be almost a one off.

In India, in the old days, some correspondents thought that not stamping your letter would be as good as registration, for making sure it was delivered. It might have cost the recipient double the deficiency, but that was cheaper than the registration fee. Here's an example from Charkhari (since I had the file up):





and the detail of the POSTAGE DUE cachet



(I have two such Charkhari covers, and the actual amount due isn't shown on either. I have no idea why.)

Neither India itself, nor any of the States, ever issued postage due stamps. They always relied on cachets.

Chile Postage Due, 1924, printed in Valparaiso (litho) composite sheets of 150.

A France #2a on cover from Sep 1859

OMG you are soooo going to regret drawing my attention to this topic. I can bore for England on the topic of Yugoslav Postage Dues. (Indeed after the recent publication of a magazine article by me I believe that sales of rope and razor blades to UK philatelists went up 75%.)

But just to break you in gently I'll start with three simple but different usages.

1) POSTAGE DUE USED AS POSTAGE DUE:


In 1925 an unstamped postcard (postal rate from 1922-1931 = 50 paras) is sent from Belgrade to Sremski Karlovci. The postmaster at Karlovci affixes a 1 dinar postage due to cover double the 50 para shortfall. All nice and normal.

2)POSTAGE DUE USED AS POSTAL:


In 1967 a postcard is sent from Nis to Novi Sad. The postal rate 1966-1968 is 20 dinars. But the postmaster at Nis is presumably short of 20 dinar stamps because a 20 dinar Postage Due is affixed and used as a normal postage stamp. This is not a frequent occurence but I have at least two other examples from the post WW2 period.

3)POSTAL USED AS POSTAGE DUE:


On 15th (possibly 16th) April 1952 a letter is sent from Pula to the small village of Zabrezje near Obrenovac. The sender as usual affixes a 10 dinar stamp (left hand side). Unfortunately the postal rate for a letter had gone up to 15 dinars on 1st April, so the postmaster at Zabrezje has to charge double the 5 dinar shortfall, but it's so long since he had to handle a postage due that he can't find his postage due stamps (if indeed he was ever issued with any); so instead he attaches a 10 dinar postal stamp, identical to the one used by the sender, to the top right.

Eventually Yugoslavia stopped issuing Postage Dues at all, and in the 1970s the use of ordinary postals as postage dues became the practice in all post offices.

I don't think so I think I speak for everyone when I say 'bring it on'.

So much great info in one post

While we're waiting for more from Yugoslavia, here is another Tunisia to accompany the post I started on them:

Very kind. But don't say you weren't warned....

Next up is POSTAGE DUES FOR POSTAL TAX

Yugoslavia had a system of levying postal tax for social and charity work. They regularly nominated a week or fortnight when there would be a postal tax for a named charity (usually Red Cross, TB, children's charities, and in more recent years cancer and AIDS.) During that period all letters had to carry an additional special charity stamp (usually of a comparatively low denomination) all proceeds from which went to the nominated charity. Any letter in that period which did not carry such a stamp would be regarded as understamped, and instead the recipient would be asked to pay the tax before the letter was handed over. Note that unlike normal postage due they did not have to pay double.

This is what is supposed to happen:

Ordinary stamp for 3.5 dinar + charity donation of 1 dinar to Red Cross. Everyone is happy.

However:

Ordinary postage of 50 paras only is paid. The sending office marks it with the Taxe handstamp; so the recipient has to stump up the 20 paras to pay for the charity stamp affixed at the receiving office.

In some but by no means all years they actually issued not only the charity stamp itself but a matching Porto stamp for collecting the postage due:


Obviously this is just a philatelic cover; a real cover could never contain both. So here is the real thing:


In the absence of the charity stamp (left) a charity Postage Due (in this case same design but overprinted PORTO) has been added to the cover. Note that the card is from abroad, but a Yugoslav still has to pay the tax to get it delivered!

However since the money from all the charity issues, postal and postage due, were going to the same organisation, post offices weren't always very exact about which stamp they used:

Although a charity postage due (left) was in use in this period, it has not been used; instead the charity postage stamp is used as a Due.
And conversely:




Two examples of Charity Postage Dues being used as Charity Postals by the sender (presumably that's what he was given by the postal clerk).
The first illustrates that this postal tax system was not a Communist Plot. It originated under the monarchy.

That's enough for this week. Next week I might dip my toe into the murky waters of provisional postage due overprints.

Not so exotic, but just found these US postage dues on piece with some Jefferson prexxies. Boston, 1941

I know nothing about US postal practice, but surely it is impossible for these two postage dues to have been cancelled on the piece to which they are now attached. Also a quick google tells me that the US internal rate (one of the PDs is cancelled in New York and the postals in Boston)was 3 cents per oz. So if the letter was understamped surely the postage due would be 6 cents for a 3 oz letter or 12 cents for 4 oz, but 8 cents is impossible.
Sorry if I'm being really stupid.