| WWII-Era And Censored |  Top |
| Item # |
|
US$ | ||
400979 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
Scott #208 (plus 1 or 2 missing stamps) [1938 50 aur "Geysir"] ca. 2 December 1939 REGISTERED cover from Iceland to Denmark, heavily DAMAGED BY SEAWATER -- VERY LIKELY THE RESULT OF A GERMAN SUBMARINE OR AIRCRAFT ATTACK. Registered business mail sent from the Siglufjörður Saving Bank to a bank in København, Denmark. With a Siglufjörður registry label and Scott #208 with a partial (SI)GLUF(JÖÐUR) cancellation. On the reverse is a neat REYKJAVIK "4.1.40.12" (4 January 1940, 12 noon) transit postmark. The cover originally bore at least one, and probably two, other stamps, but they have been lost to the seawater. When this envelope was rescued, it was obviously badly damaged. Close examination of the typed address shows that it had been wet. The envelope was dried out and cellophane tape was used to put it back together -- that tape degraded and stained over time. The taped areas are NOT sticky now; the old adhesive dried out and most of the tape fell away long ago. The surviving stamp was taped down by the rescuers (the line of tape goes over, not under, the stamp -- I HAVE CAREFULLY HINGED THE STAMP INTO THE PROPER LOCATION. A tiny trace of the tying cancellation can be seen on the envelope at the upper right of the stamp. The rest of the postmark(s) was (were) on the adjacent stamp(s) -- there is a trace of another postmark at the extreme right edge of the cover, in line with the stamp. PRIOR to taping, the envelope was handstamped in violet "Beskadiget af Søvand" [Damaged by Seawater]. SUCH MARKINGS ARE "RARE". The reverse of the cover bears very neat docketing, handwritten in Danish, [translated]: "Sent 2 December 1939 / Received 5 March 1940". We do not know who wrote that, but it is reasonable to presume that it was written at the receiving Danish bank. I do not know if the Reykjavik postmark on the reverse was applied before or after the likely sinking of the ship carrying this envelope. However, since the violet handstamp is in Danish, I suspect that the Reykjavik marking is from before the sinking. The 2 December to 4 January transit time to Reykjavik can be explained by the fact that there was no (or no practical) overland route, thus DURING WARTIME and DURING THE WINTER IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC (!!), with u-boats attacking at will, a month transit time, by fishing boats, etc., is not unreasonable from Siglufjörður (in the extreme north of Iceland) to Reykjavik (in the extreme south-west of Iceland). There is extensive information on the Internet about the submarine and air war in the North Atlantic with hundreds of ships lost to German u-boats and aircraft. With logic and some patience, it may even be possible to determine the most likely specific ship on which this envelope was carried. To put the scale of losses into perspective, one source states that, for JANUARY 1940 ALONE, the "monthly loss summary" was "64 British, Allied and neutral ships of 179,000 tons [just in!!] in UK waters." [If the purchaser of this cover determines the name of the ship and the details of the sinking, I would be happy to add information to this description for reference purposes, displayed here.] It is highly likely that this cover was on a ship sunk by a German submarine (or perhaps a German aircraft if the event occurred closer to continental Europe). It is RARE for such mail to survive in any form. The fact that this letter was registered probably meant that it was placed in a special, secured, FLOATING mailbag, in anticipation of exactly such a problem -- I have heard of floating mailbags being used in general. If this had not been a registered letter, it is extremely unlikely that it would have survived. Regardless of the exact details of what occurred, this is a great example of a rare category of postal history. ACTUAL item. |
325.00 |
||
224712 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
207 [1939 45 aur Geyser] (VF) on 28 June 1940 cover British censored (PC 90) cover addressed to the Seine-Inférieure (since 1954 known as Seine-Maritime) department of France. The letter did reach France, but received a 3-line violet handstamp "RETOUR A LENVOYEUR / RELATIONS POSTALES / INTERROMPUES" indicating that postal service was interrupted (due to the war). Somewhat worn at top, but inconsequential due to the rarity. This handstamp is occasionally found on letters from the U.S. to France, but is rare from other countries and extremely rare from Iceland (in 34 years I have not had another example). ACTUAL item. |
350.00 Reference |
||
215322 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
194 (VF) [1935 1 kr Hekla Volcano] solo usage on 8 September 1941 UNDERCOVER ADDRESS airmail cover to Portugal with British censorship. Addressed to Helgi P. Briem, the Icelandic Trade Commissioner to Portugal at the time. Briem is known for forwarding letters from Iceland to Denmark, via neutral Portugal. Very scarce WWII cover; few examples are known. ACTUAL item. |
345.00 |
||
244916 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
207 3-STRIP [1940 45 aur Geyser] (VF) on 23 November 1942 registered commercial U.S. CENSORED business-size cover to the U.S. 135 aur postal rate is for a triple-weight (>40 to 60 grams) surface mail cover to worldwide countries outside Scandinavia: postage 95 aur, registration 40 aur (both elements 1 Jan 1940 - 31 Dec 1942 inclusive). Very fresh and attractive example of commercial mail that was critically important to Iceland during WWII. ACTUAL item. |
24.00 |
||
229392 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
208A (VF) on 1944 U.S. Censored business size cover to U.S. ACTUAL item. |
18.00 |
||
229391 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
208A (VF) on 1944 U.S. Censored business size cover to U.S. ACTUAL item. |
18.00 |
||
229390 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
208A (VF) on 1944 U.S. Censored business size cover to U.S. ACTUAL item. |
18.00 |
||
229396 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
208Ac x3 on 8 August 1947 Registered air cover to Austria with Austrian censor. ACTUAL item. |
55.00 |