Atoll Post Of The German Marshall Islands

Per a request from Rod in this thread, here's a bit more on the Atoll Post of the German Marshall Islands. Most of this comes directly from Albert Friedemann's master work, Die Postwertzeichen und Entwertungen der deutschen Postanstalten in den Schutzgebieten und im Ausland (The Postage Stamps and Cancellations of the German Postal Authorities in the Colonies and Post Offices Abroad), 4th and final edition, 1988, English translation by the German Colonies Collectors Group.

On 15 October 1885, the Marshall Islands were declared a German protectorate (Marshall-Inseln) with Jaluit as the capital. The administration of the colony, however, was largely left to private German trading companies within the islands, with only an Imperial Commissioner, or Landeshauptmann, appointed by the German government. The costs of administering the territory soon became a burden on the trading companies, and in 1887, the Jaluit Company was founded to centralize the administration under a single commercial entity. The Marshalls would remain under the administration of the Jaluit Company until 1 April 1906, when the German government formally took over.

During this period, there was a single post office within the colony, at the capital of Jaluit (opened 29 March 1889, closed upon capture on 29 September 1914).

Jaluit PO

A second would eventually open at Nauru (opened 14 July 1908, closed upon capture on 6 November 1914), but that is after the events of this little story.

When the Jaluit postal agency was opened on 29 March 1889, there was no formal policy for the handling of mail from the other islands within the colony. Mail that made it to Jaluit was franked and cancelled appropriately and placed on ships departing Jaluit, but mail service within the atolls and islands was informal. Items were routinely carried by intra-island shipping traffic with no franking, no cancellations, and without ever entering a proper postal system.

On 25 June 1902, the Imperial Commissioner issued a new directive governing the mail service within the colony. By the terms of this directive, Jaluit was to be the only point of departure for mail leaving the colony, to ensure that mail was properly franked, cancelled, and controlled.

Additionally, and more importantly for this post, the captain of each ship operating within the colony was now obligated to receive and transport mail at all atolls within the colony. An additional directive of the same date directed the procedures to be followed:



Thus began the "Atoll Post." Ships traveling within the atolls/islands of the colony would pickup and drop-off mail as they had before, but now from officially designated agents, and with proper franking and cancellation. Though the directive stated that the manuscript cancels should include the ship's name, the name of the atoll was often substituted. Mail that was strictly intra-atoll rarely received a proper circular cancel, unless directed to Jaluit or routed through Jaluit on its way to a destination outside the colony.

The Atoll Post system remained in place until the fall of the colony at the outbreak of WWI. However, most cancellations from late 1907 onward are difficult to certify as being legitimate due to outright abuse of the system beginning in late 1907.

Friedemann characterizes all Atoll Post items into one of five categories:

1. Legitimate pieces — these occur almost exclusively until early 1907. Certain vessels made limited trips, and only during the early period, so stamps with cancellations from these vessels are presumed legitimate. These vessels are the steamers Hercules (until 15 Dec 1905), Neptun (about 1906), Luisa D. (only 1902), Merkur (903), and the American missionary ship Morning Star (1905). These items are primarily 5- and 10-Pfennig stamps, as those were the proper rates, with an occasional 20 Pf. Senders and recipients were officials, missionaries, trading firms, and the occasional private person. From early 1907, legitimacy can generally only be determined for those stamps on pieces or full postcards/letters with enough information to verify dates, ships, and parties.

2. Philatelic pieces — beginning in mid/late 1907, the philatelic abuse of the Atoll Post began, and these items are the result. They are mostly from 1908 and 1909. Stamps of values other than 5-, 10-, and 20 Pfennig are always philatelic or worse. Because the names of those involved in the large-scale philatelic creation of these items are largely known, philatelic items on full cards/letters are easy to identify.

3. Wholesale forgeries — these originate from 1908 on the ship Diana with the name of the atoll written by Captain Jeschke of the Diana, and from 1909 on the ship Eanijen Rakijen by Captain Krümling. The Diana cancellations are often in red ink, though colored inks were not legitimately used. These ships did call on the atolls, but the stamps and cancellations they created were never actually passed through the mail.

4. "Objectionable" cancellations — cancellations applied by ship captains in Jaluit with names of atolls from which the mail never originated and the ships didn't service.

5. Forgeries — cancellations created in Jaluit by persons with no authority to do so, primarily in 1908 and 1909.

In general, if you see a manuscript cancellation from mid/late 1907 onward, it probably wasn't a legitimate Atoll Post usage.

There were 33 atolls in total that were serviced with mail traffic during the period. Manuscript cancellations are known from the following, in addition to those cancelled with the ship name instead:

Ailinglablab, Ailuk, Arno, Aur, Ebon, Jaluit, Kwadjelin, Lae, Likieb, Majeru, Maloelab, Medjit, Mille, Namerik, Nauru, Providence Island, Udjae, Udjrik, Wodje

Friedemann then gives a large number of examples of items known to be legitimate and known to be forgeries.

Legitimate




Forgeries are known from Eanijen Rakijen from the following:

Arno (27 Mar 09)
Milli (1 Apr 09)
Majeru (4 Apr 09)
Aurh (7 Apr 09)
Wotje (9 Apr 09)
Likieb (11 Apr 09)
Kwadjelin (13 Apr 09)
Wottho (7 Apr 09)
Ujaie (18 Apr 09)
Lai (20 Apr 09)
Lib (23 Apr 09)
Namu (24 Apr 09)
Ailinglaplap (26 Apr 09)

And from the Diana:

Majeru (4 Aug 08)
Arno (8 Aug 08)
Maloelab (18 Aug 08)
Aurh (19 Aug 08)
Milli (2 Sep 08)
Ebon (6 Sep 08)
Namoril (8 Sep 08)

I have two legitimate copies in my collection.

This one is from Ebon, 11 Apr 1905.

And this one is from Nauru (7 Feb 07), transiting to the Jaluit Linie (8 Feb 07). This copy is also from the same date and location as one of those illustrated by Friedemann in his original work (see above in the Nauru example, top row, middle stamp).

Also, for anyone particularly interested in this topic, please consider supporting or joining the German Colonies Collectors Group.

Fantastic read! Thanks for posting!!

Dan

Fantastic Postmaster GS - Thank you.

Echoing the above comments,
absorbing read, for a hazy history of an area
in our backyard, as it were.
Brings up quite a romantic idyll, motorised yachts sailing
between atolls in that part of the world.
What a life that would have been.
Thanks Postmaster.

Another one of these in the mail today. This one cancelled on Majeru, 7 September 1903.

I'd guess one would have to leave "On piece"
any soaking shall have the ink (pen cancel) run?
I wonder what the Postmaster intends.

I've never soaked a stamp and have no intention to start now!

Here's an interesting addition to this topic.

As mentioned in the original post, legitimate atoll post usage from 1908 onward is rare, and most usages from that time onward are considered to be philatelic or outright forgeries without solid evidence to the contrary. In the rare instances when a later usage can be verified, it's usually due to the cover being intact, where the sender/recipient and proof of actual mailing can be verified. The sender/receiver are important because the names of the scoundrels manufacturing the later copies are largely known, and proof of actual mailing weeds-out a lot of the outright forgeries.

That being said, it's pretty much impossible to get an expert opinion on later usages, even if intact with all the items mentioned above, because it's simply impossible to know for sure for items after early 1908.

In his book on the German Colonial post, Die Briefmarken der deutschen Postanstalten im Auslande und der deutschen Schutzgebiete (The stamps of the German post offices abroad and the German protected areas), Dr. Eduard Ey included this note (translated):


This would seem to be one such item:

There is no posting date on this cover, but it bears an arrival cancel from Erfurt, Germany, dated 18 July 1914. This would indicate that it did pass properly through the post.

The manuscript "Jaluit" on the stamp is in the handwriting of the Capt Julius Krümling. Capt Krümling was, from 1 Oct 1904 until WWI, the postmaster, harbor master, constable, and customs officer in Jaluit, and also a ship's pilot within the Marshall Islands. He was not known to have participated in the 1908 forgery scam, and his handwriting and "Jaluit" manuscript cancel are well known. This would seem to indicate it was he who cancelled the stamp, lending credibility to it. It doesn't explain why he had access to a registration label but not the circular canceller, however.

In addition, the sender indicated on the reverse of the cover is -- Krümling, Jaluit. This would seem to indicate that he wasn't merely canceling a stamp that was missed by the canceller, but that it was he himself who posted and cancelled the letter.

So is this a valid atoll post? No way to tell. However, it seems consistent with a late, legitimate usage of that type.

The pencil mark on the front is from a prior collector/dealer noting that this was listed by Dr. Ey with a value of "L", or Liebhaberpreis (lover's price).

Postmaster GS----Nice research and interesting subject matter .

Postmaster ----- On a different subject did you see or bid on that German Occup . cover for Kenya Africa . It open at $250.00 and thought I would pick it up around that price since it didn't go thru the mail and was more a philatelic item . I got nocked out at $450.00 and the final and winning bid was $600.00 . It was such a odd item and wanted it as a stamp from every county , a German cover from Kenya .

What auction house?

Cherrystone lot 562 Taveta Deutsche Feldpost

I saw that, but you can get a good, non-philatelic usage from Taveta complete on cover for about 1/3-1/2 that price. I assume the complete set was the appeal there, since IMHO, lot 560 ($325) was a better example of that usage.

I like doing business with Cherrystone, but their German lots tend to go much higher than they should, compared to what comparable items go for at the German auctionhouses. I assume it's because there are a lot of collectors in the US who don't want to deal with the language barrier (which isn't really a problem), so Cherrystone is their best option for higher-end German materials.

If you're still looking for a Taveta cover, there are a couple on Philasearch, and here's one from one of my favorite ebay sellers.