Australia Postal Marking Ctms/T (1937)

A stamp and a postmark cut from an envelope that contains a postal marking:

CTMS [edited to read "C"TMS (not "G"TMS)]
T

Any idea what that abbreviation means? Is it some sort of a postage due designation? It appears as though the cover was originally intended to be sent to Bridgeton, NJ (USA).

A Tasmanian Tax Marking

CTMS / T

Could this be a form of a "Postage Due" or "Penalty" marking?

Usually, the letter "T" denoted this for many countries. Just a wild guess.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Postage due, Bujutsu.
not much information getting around on this one
a specialty aux marking, probably need a dedicated Tasmanian Cat.

Do we have any members of the British Society of Australian Philately? If anyone has these resources available, perhaps he or she could take a peek?

"Tasmania: The CTMS/T Tax Markings," Reid, Patrick, BSAP Bulletin, Vol. 52 No. 2, April 1997, pp. 46-55.

"The CTMS/T Tax Marks of Tasmania: Further Information," Lacey, Malcolm and Patrick Reid, BSAP Bulletin, Vol. 52 No. 6, December 1997, 165-167.

"The CTMS/T Tax Marks of Tasmania," Reid, Patrick, BSAP Bulletin, Vol. 58 No. 5, October 2003, pp. 158-160.

Okay, a couple easier ones...anyone have American Philatelist April 1967 or March 1968? Both of those are supposed to have articles that should also be on point.

Anyone?

I was assuming it was an acronym, but it appears it may be an abbreviation for "centimes." Postal authorities converted their country's currency to gold centimes to calculate postage due in centimes.

Perhaps that will scare up some better search results while we wait for one of the five articles listed above.

I'm pretty sure the 16 2/3 in pencil alongside is the amount due in Gold Centimes. The conversions did throw up strange amounts like that.

Was it common for commemoratives to be issued prior to the date being commemorated? It's a little strange seeing a 3 Dec, 1937 CDS on a 1938 commemorative.

That stamp was issued October 1, 1937, so this isn't even an early use.

This is a tax marking applied at Launceston Tasmania. It is an abbreviation for "Centimes Tax(e)". This particular handstamp originally read 10/CTMS/T and was cut down in the 1920s to remove the '10' which no longer had a use. The 162/3 in manuscript is the tax due in centimes and represents a deficiency of 1d in postage (rate to USA was 3d up to 1oz)doubled to include the penalty and converted to 162/3 centimes at the prevailing ate of 1d=81/3 centimes. This would have probably been converted to 4 cents US at 5 centimes = 1c and rounded up.

Seems like a lot of math to do only to arrive at the end total of 4-cents (US)!

French currency was used as the standard measure internationally for taxed items. I have a cover from 1961 which has the tax assessed in centimes.

Actually, not French currency. The currency was a notional Gold Franc; purely hypothetical. It may once have been linked to the French currency - though I would have thought the Swiss Franc more likely - but by the 60s, it was certainly not related to the Old or New French Franc.

According to this blog post, the system we are talking about ended in 1965:

"The Vienna U.P.U. Congress of 1964, which was implemented 1st January 1966, abandoned the use of gold centimes for tax markings and calculations for surcharged mail. Instead the country of origin was to mark a fraction next to the usual T-mark."

http://www.nswtaxmarks.com/?p=501