1949 Gutenberg Bible Postcard With Dual Franking (?!)

I bought this postcard partly because of the image of the Gutenberg Bible on the picture side and partly because of the unusual mixed franking on the message side: Scott Germany #646 and United States #982.

The card was written in Mainz on 26 June 1949 and received by the addressee in New York City on 30 June. The only postmark is from NYC Grand Central Station, but the date is unclear, since the final digit for the day ended up right on the perfs. It looks like 26, but that seems unlikely, since the card was written in Mainz on that day; 28 seems more probable to me.

Can someone with a better knowledge of postal rates and practices in postwar Germany explain why this card has dual franking and no German postmark? Is it because the Federal Republic was brand new (established on 23 May 1949) and perhaps not yet recognized by the UPU?

Perhaps the card was intended to be mailed from Germany (20pf franking) but was instead carried onto a plane bound for NYC. Upon arrival the card was franked with the 3c commemorative, and thus received the cancel there.

Back in the 1950s, airports and such places had stamp vending machines which sold commemoratives as postage. They were in little, folded cardboard protectors.

Thanks! That possibility occurred to me, but it seemed like a strange thing to do.

On the other hand, the messages indicate that the writers were at a conference of the Gutenberg Society, where one of them (Otto) gave a speech. Maybe one or more of the writers, like the addressee, lived in New York, and they forgot to mail the card until they got home? That wouldn't be so far-fetched.

I have something simular in my collection. It is in storage, I cannot show it.

It was a postcard written by a German couple at a trainstation in The Netherlands, it already had a Dutch stamp.

They forgot to post it or had to catch a train, I do not know. But when they arrived in Germany they put on a German stamp and posted it.
Both The Dutch and the German stamp got a Hannover postmark.

The German-US card needed only 1 cent to mail in the U.S.

Dual country frankings are fairly common between the US & Canada as tourists forget to post their cards before crossing back home - in both directions. Here is a view card of Kingston, Ont, stamped in Canada and held in Alexandria Bay, NY, with the stamp not recognized as valid until the recipient sent postage for it. No doubt post offices close to both sides of the border were sensitized to this happening frequently.

Hi,

Here the same example from my collection as Johan but in Finland.

Hornet