This cover, mailed from Fort Huachuca to England in 1913, lacks any postal markings which would indicate it ever left the US and arrived at its destination. The lack of foreign cancels has me wondering if this cover is legitimate. The military base is was sent from has a long history and operates to this day.
It could also be that certain classes of mail did not receive backstamp postmarks and/or at a certain point it was no longer the norm to do so. It could also have just slipped by a clerk dealing with heavy volume of mail or just careless.
Thank you for your reply. Glad to hear there is nothing unusual about this cover. Postmark at point of origin only on foreign mail isn't as interesting as backstamped foreign mail.
IMO, the 2c rate indicates that this was not a letter, but a circular or other printed matter that would probably not receive a transit or receiving mark.
Standard treaty mail rate for a first class surface letter to Great Britain is 2c/oz. 3rd class would have been 1 cent. see Wawrukiewicz & Beecher's "U.S. International Postal Rates" book. Backstamping with a receiving mark had largely fallen out of practice by this time unless registered, missent, delayed, etc.
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Posted 01/05/2020 11:04 am
