Mailed Without A Stamp?

Going through an old cover box I took a better look at this cover sent from Honduras to NY in 1896. At first I thought the stamp was removed of had fallen off but now I believe that it was mailed without a stamp.

The duplex postmark is complete so if a stamp were removed or had fallen part of the duplex would be missing. And why use a duplex and completely miss the stamp? Honduras was part of the UPU so rate I believe was 5¢ so taxed @ 10¢ upon arrival. kind of like a collect call?

Interesting cover. I'm not much into postal history but your analysis seems reasonable. The postmarks tell an interesting story. Leaves Honduras Jan 22, arrives New Orleans Jan 28. Next stop Brooklyn Jan 30. Postage due paid in Brooklyn; if the recipient had moved, who paid the postage due? M L & R is an RPO, right? So would Feb 9 be the date it was received for transit to its final destination? And could someone interpret the Feb 6 postal marking on the back?

Good morning Staltzer and all,

Look on the front side just right of the "T" mark. Gum remnants from the original stamp?

The NYC markings are consistent with an item sent to Brooklyn but then forwarded to NYC for final delivery.

Russ

That's what I originally thought before tossing it in the cover box a year or 2 back. Wasn't until I really dove into it that I realized it's not gum residue.

It even has the appearance of something almost square being there but looking at it under magnification and light it's just some stain. I also believe that if there were a stamp on the cover then why would they intentionally miss the stamp with the duplex cancel?

I haven't been able to identify the M.L.& R postmark.

I think the mark reads "MI&R", rather than an L. I see no railroad aspect of the mark.

The January 1992 issue of LaPosta, page 46 makes note that .... "another cancel MI&R also used on due mail" ... in the 1895 time period with a New York oval containing "UD" which they speculate may stand for undeliverable mail. So there is a very good chance that "MI&R" stands for something in the nixie or directory searcher or postage due mail areas.

Thank you John for pointing me in the right direction. It is M.I.& R = money, inquiry, & return and looks to be a postage due duplex cancel.

I found it here, scroll to the last images.

https://www.rfrajola.com/Porter1/porter1.pdf

Excellent. I learned something today too.

However, the link says: "It is thought the letters MI & R means money, inquiry, and return", while your post turns this supposition into a statement of fact, which stretches the original statement.

Fabulous,
A lot of us have been guilty of that during our collecting years.
I am certainly guilty.

Apologies John, didn't mean to ad-lib on on the display description. However one thing I have learned in philately is that if Richard Frajola states his belief that something is what it is then there is an extremely high probability he is correct.

I would generally agree with that statement; however, Richard didn't say that - the link is to an exhibit hosted on Richard's website but authored by Ray Porter.

Ok, we're getting a bit pedantic over this, apologies for even posting the reference.