Postage Due Conversion To Centimes

Posted Dresden, Germany (Scott No. 49, 20 pfennigs), June 28, 1895 to Muncie, Indiana. Cover passed through New York July 11th acquiring the double spyglass "DUE 10 CENTS" and rectangular boxed "T." markings and possibly the manuscript 25 Cts (my guess is this is 25 centimes) notation then on to Muncie being rec'd July 13th, where postage due of ten cents was collected.

I've searched my Wawrukiewicz-Beecher U.S. International Postage Rates, 1872-1996 (first printing), but could not find anything definitive regarding the conversion of centimes to cents based on the time period involved. Can anyone help with this?

Also, can anyone make sense of the manuscript marking above the two postage due stamps? It looks to have been applied at the same time and in the same hand as the 25 Cts.

Dave




*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

I believe your envelope was shortpaid (looks like overweight, based on appearance of envelope). The origin office caught it. They calculated the correct rate and converted the deficiency to francs and centimes as per the UPU standard - in this case 25 centimes.

I recall the US conversion rate in the 1890s period was one cent per 5 centimes, so postage due applied by USPS would be double deficiency (2 X 25 centimes X (1 cent / 5 centimes)) = 10 cents.

I can't be sure what, or how much, of ms is concealed by dues.

You are likely aware of this link, but it comprehensively shows application of dues in the early UPU period with examples similar to yours:

https://www.rfrajola.com/Dues/Dues.pdf

Nobody has chimed in so I'll give what I know about this.

From 1879 to 1922 the UPU single weight foreign letter rate was 25 centimes. In German currency this was equivalent to 20 pfennig. Your letter has been franked with 20 pfennig as single weight. But I suspect the letter was overweight. The writing above the postage due stamps may be 27 (grams), and single weight was only to 20 grams. Thus the postage was 20 pfennig short, which is indicated by the boxed T and the equivalent 25cts. Before 1907 only the amount short was indicated.

Then, on arrival in the US, the 25 centimes was converted to 5 cents. Postage due was double this, or 10 cents.

I know the German conversion rate above is correct but I'm not 100% sure about the US converstion rate, but I think the US foreign letter rate was 5 cents.

Jan

archerg and j2186, I'd like to thank you both for your very helpful responses. archerg, I've been on the Frajola website a number of times, but had never seen the large postage dues exhibit that you provided the link to. Very educational. Dave

The method used to convert one currency to another on underpaid mail was to have a fictional currency, 'Gold Centimes' as the centre point for the calculation.

The Universal Postal Union meets periodically (it still does) and one of the matters determined is the rate at which one currency will be converted to and from gold centimes. These meetings could see a reset of the conversion rates but also set a minimum charge.

My expertise in is Australian taxed mail. Through the 1920s the minimum charge (regardless of the deficiency) was 1d, it was increased to 1½d but reverted to 1d later on.

In relation to the conversion of deficient amounts on Australian mail, I have a time line has been created noting the changes as they occurred. Dumb question time, how do I add a .pdf file to my post?

Hi 64idgaf,

I'm not sure we can add a pdf to a post.

If you had the file uploaded somewhere and provide a link, those interested in the information (I'm certainly one of them!) could then download the file for their records.

You cannot upload PDFs. You can convert the PDF to images by doing a 'Save As' or 'Export' in many PDF Readers.
Don