Who Enjoys A Mystery?

I bought this 1959 cover because of the unusually high franking. I've never seen an Australian predecimal cover with so many high value stamps before:



I took to this cover at once, because it was sent the very day I was born (11.3.59). I did not know this when I bought it, but as a result of this discovery it's now become my latest favourite possession!

Leaving aside the date on which the item was posted, there is a mystery surrounding this cover which I hope forum members may be able to help dispel.

The envelope apparently carried X-rays. (The inscription that is obscured by the 5 shilling and 10 shilling stamps on the left reads "X-Ray Films. With Care.") It was sent from "Locarno" at 141 Macquarie St., Sydney, which was the address of a medical practitioner.

The address of the recipient is unknown because the bulk of the envelope containing the X-rays was cut off and only the part with the stamps preserved. But the destination was somewhere overseas, as we can tell from the fact that the envelope features an Air Mail sticker.

What I find curious is that after the stamps on the right side of the envelope were cancelled at Royal Exchange, the package made its way to the GPO, where additional postage to the value of 2 pounds and 10 shillings (!) was added. The stamps were then cancelled.

Isn't it highly unusual (and mysterious) to see a cover indicating that stamps were added - and cancelled - at two different post offices on the same day?

A very interesting cover jimjam

it appears to have just over 56 Shillings in all. I don't know what the postal rates in Australia were in those days, but, it sure must have had some weight and value enclosed. The two locations for cancelling is interesting too. It doesn't have any postage due, so, I am wondering if the recipient paid the extra amount over the counter because of the importance of the contents? Just a guess.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Hi
Rod Perry who writes in the Australian Stamp News would be able to give you some idea of its value
Regards
Horamakhet

Could it be that the original stamps and cancellation were for the postage and the later ones added for registration or insurance? Also old X-Rays were bulky and they may have had additional protective packaging--- is there extra charge in Australia for out-sized packages?

kehess, I imagine that something like that happened. However, registration did not cost anywhere near as much as two pounds ten!

I also don't think the package was THAT big. One of the Royal Exchange datestamps is cut off at the top. The envelope was folded here, so that the uppermost portion of the cancel was not struck. The size of the fold here is 6 mm. That made it a thick envelope but nothing off the scale that would have justified such high franking.

bujutsu, by my calculations total franking amounted to two pounds 18 shillings and 2 1/2 pence, in other words, nearly three pounds. That would have been a day's wages for most people in those days, more or less.

Horamakhet, I don't know how to contact Rod Perry. His website is down.