Need Help ID

Need help to identify country of issue for the stamp and scott #. Any other inputs are appreciated. Thanks.





Reverse side of cover with Aarau, Switzerland post mark.

In the Scott catalog, Switzerland #J5(normal paper) or #J10(granite paper).

Hi Selva,

That's an interesting cover. It looks as though it was posted from Aarau without a stamp (or the stamp fell off) so the postage due stamp was applied (10c to pay as double the usual rate of 5c).

It was sent to the village of Leutwyl in the same canton of Aargau. I see the name of this village is now spelled "Leutwil".

I collect post cards from the Swiss village of Wilderswil near Interlaken and I can see a similar change of spelling from "Wilderswyl" in the cards at around the start of the 20th century.

There are three versions of this postage due stamp design based on the shape of the corner triangles:

Type I has the edge of the triangle in the top right corner of the stamp nearest the centre of the stamp complete. The other three triangles also have complete edges without breaks.

Type II has this edge of the triangle in the top right corner broken and this also occurs with the frame inverted where its the corresponding edge of the triangle in the bottom left corner that's broken.

If you look carefully at your stamp you'll see that you have an example of type II with the inverted frame, i.e. the triangle in the bottom left hand corner of the stamp has a broken frame.

Both forms of the Type II frame exist on both the white paper and granite paper issues. The frame types don't make much difference to the catalogue prices except for some of the higher values in the set.

All the best,

Thanks guys for the replies and thanks to nigelc for the lenthy explanation. Have examined the cover for traces of any other stamp that would have been on the cover but have not been able to detect anything. Moreover a cover that needed a postage due stamp for reasons being a stamp missing or posted without a stamp then a postage due stamping of "T" would have been stamped on the cover.Could it be a possibility that these cover would have been posted from Leutwyl just using a postage due stamp?Just a thought and further feedback will be appreciated.

Hi Selva,

This is what I like about old covers!

The cover has a handstamp at the bottom left which I think says "GERICHTSKANZLEI KULM" or Kulm Court Registry. I've found another cover on the Internet with a printed GERICHTSKANZLEI KULM envelope that was sent from Unterkulm which is the main town of the Kulm district within Aargau.

So I would guess that this cover was sent from Unterkulm unstamped to Lutwil via Aarau where the backstamp was applied and probably also where the blue handwritten "10" charge marking was made on the front.

I don't know if Switzerland used "T" markings for inland postage due at this time although I'm sure they would have used them for items being sent abroad (as it was a UPU regulation by this time).

I guess these markings weren't used for postage due on items sent within Switzerland or at least not on a consistent basis. However, I suppose there could be one under the stamp.

All the best,

I wonder if that's a very faint Unterkulm postmark above the "B" of "Baumann"?

Think it is another postmark that was not stamped clearly.It has a date and the cross emblem of Switzerland postmarks.

It could be a Unterkulm postmark.Notice a you and N but the rest not clear.