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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,290 |
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Pillar Of The Community
1211 Posts |
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I have an airmail cover sent from the Belgian Congo to the US in 1941 and it has a paper tape censorship closure on one end. The markings on it are P.C. 90 OPENED BY EXAMINER 4392. I understand that these P.C. 90 marked paper tape censors were British. My question is whether anyone knows where Examiner 4392 was based? Was it Trinidad or the Gambia or Nigeria or someplace else on the airmail route between the Belgian Congo and the US? Thanks!
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Bedrock Of The Community
Australia
38679 Posts |
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May we see the entire cover please? Are there no FPO strike (Field Post Office CDS)? I have all the Brit. Post offices from 1914 to 1982 Never come across a catalogue of Censor marks, that's new for me. Here is one for 4320 Suggested intercepted and censored in Liverpool Perhaps your received a similar interception?  |
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| Edited by rod222 - 08/14/2022 2:51 pm |
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Pillar Of The Community

United States
936 Posts |
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Probably Bermuda, but would like to see the cover.
Few questions can or should be answered without showing the material in question. Saves lots of time and guesswork.
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| Edited by mml1942 - 08/14/2022 2:45 pm |
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Pillar Of The Community
1211 Posts |
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Pillar Of The Community
1211 Posts |
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Possibly Bermuda, but I think it is more likely Trinidad or the Gambia or Nigeria as those were the British colonies along the route at that time. Bermuda was out of the way in 1941, though it did become a censoring center a little later in 1942 and afterwards. The censor tape along the left edge was applied by the Belgian Congo. |
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| Edited by Kimo - 08/14/2022 6:26 pm |
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Pillar Of The Community
1211 Posts |
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Pillar Of The Community
1211 Posts |
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As can be seen by the Leopoldville and Miami cancels along with the boxed and straight-line cachets this was flown on Pan American's first flight of Foreign Air Mail 22 (FAM 22). My guess is the sender X. Burtie (spelling?) who was living in Wenghi-Coquilhatville in the Belgian Congo was sending this as a regular letter to a friend or colleague or family member in Newark, N.J., though the nice stamps suggest that perhaps the recipient enjoyed collecting stamps? I am not sure why this person was sending a letter to a person in New Jersey, though perhaps the sender was a missionary of some kind? |
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| Edited by Kimo - 08/15/2022 07:44 am |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
578 Posts |
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4392 is recorded used in Trinidad. British labels were mostly used there by Imperial censors to train local staff.
These British-type labels moved between stations, so this isn't definitive.
4392 is not reported as a number used in Bermuda. |
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Pillar Of The Community
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Thank you!!! I was suspecting that it was from one of the three British colonies I mentioned as being stops on the first flight - Trinidad, Nigeria or the Gambia so it is great to know that I was on the right path and that it was Trinidad. I have seen a great many covers on this inauguration of the Pan Am clipper flying boat service between Miami and Leopoldville but very few of them seem to have been censored like this one. Perhaps it is because this one likely contained a letter while most of the others were just empty covers prepared and flown on that first flight. |
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| Edited by Kimo - 08/15/2022 9:48 pm |
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Pillar Of The Community
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Quote: 4392 is recorded used in Trinidad. May I ask ... Where or by whom? Reference please. Thank you. |
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Pillar Of The Community
Australia
578 Posts |
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Quote: May I ask ... Where or by whom? Reference please. Thank you. "British Empire Civil Censorship Devices World War II Section 6 - British West Indies & Falkland Islands" Published by and Copyright held by The Civil Censorship Study Group Edited by Peter C Burrows February 2016 Trinidad and Tobago, p.26  |
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Pillar Of The Community
6326 Posts |
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Thank you. No doubt having a bibliographic citation will help others in the future. |
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Pillar Of The Community
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Thanks for sharing the additional details, Plateflaw. I did not know that the Imperial censors were training local staff at T&T. I always enjoy learning - it makes collecting so much more interesting. |
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Replies: 12 / Views: 1,290 |
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