| WWII-Era And Censored Covers |  Top |
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US$ | ||
240471 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
170 x2 [1937 20 øre Lion, Watermarked] (VF) on 8 September 1940 surface mail cover from LARVIK with bridge cancellations, to the U.S. The reverse bears Nazi censor tape and handstamp of a type used in Berlin. (Airmail to North America was usually censored in Frankfurt, but surface mail from Scandinavia was normally censored in Berlin.) No British censoring (unusual at this point in time) and the U.S. had not started censoring yet. 40 øre postage appears to be overpaid by 10 øre. The interior lining of the envelope had been ripped out prior to mailing per censorship regulations. ACTUAL item. |
26.00 |
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240470 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
165 OR 190 and 174 x2, PLUS 169 OR 195 and another 174 [5 øre Posthorn; 15 and 40 øre Lion] (VF, watermark status not known for 5 and 15 øre) on 3 December 1940 airmail cover from FLATRÅKER with bridge cancellations, to the U.S. At BERGEN the item was rated as being underpaid and needing an additional 55 øre postage; this would have been held at Bergen, the difference requested from the sender, and then postage affixed and canceled at Bergen on 4 December. VERY UNUSUAL EXAMPLE. The 40 øre stamps must be watermarked because of the use date; the 15 øre unwatermarked stamp was issued two days before this one was canceled, this is probably watermarked but perhaps not. The reverse bears VERY UNUSUAL (at least on Norway-U.S. mail) narrow Nazi censor tape and has been handstamped with "Ae" in circle ("e" code = Frankfurt). The handstamp in circle normally indicates that the item has intentionally not been censored, however in this case it was incorrectly used as a sealing handstamp -- VERY UNUSUAL use. No British censoring (unusual at this point in time) and the U.S. had not started censoring yet. 85 øre rate: 30 surface and 55 air surcharge per 5 grams. Slightly reduced at right. Unusual small village postmark. Very nice cover with several very unusual features. ACTUAL item. |
55.00 |
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229619 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
9 December 1940 package label/front for printed matter parcel from TRONDHEIM to Denmark with both Oslo "Ao" and Danish (German) censor handstamps. 98 øre franking (rough condition as to be expected on a package). At 7 øre per 50 grams, this is a 700 gram / 14th weight class franking -- such printed matter items are really quite scarce. ACTUAL item. |
35.00 |
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240467 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
165, 174 pair OR 190, 200 pair [5 øre Posthorn and 40 øre Lion] (VF, watermark status not known) on 5 April 1941 airmail cover from ARENDEAL with machine cancellation, to the U.S. The reverse bears Nazi censor tape and handstamp ("e" code = Frankfurt). No British censoring (unusual at this point in time) and the U.S. had not started censoring yet. 85 øre rate: 30 surface and 55 air surcharge. Roughly opened. Looks nice. ACTUAL item. |
26.00 |
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400661 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
5 øre Posthorn and 10, 40, and 60 øre Lion stamps (not known if with or without watermark) on 14 May 1941 registered airmail cover from OSLO to New York City, USA. The cover was censored at Bermuda with a PC 90 "EXAMINER 342" censorship label without any additional (IC, or C) marking. Flynn lists the examiner 342 label as being known on a few covers. Flynn states that the PC 90 labels were used in Bermuda from about July 1940 to the end of April 1944; and that an additional "IC" notation was NOT added for about the first 18 months of use (and "C" was not used unti mid-1942). There the cover was HELD FOR THE DURATION OF THE WAR (also called "CONDEMNED" whether permanently confiscated or eventually released after the war), and was RELEASED BY THE CENSORS in January or Feburary 1946; the PC 90 label was then marked "REL 29947" The cover first was censored by the Germans in Frankfurt (with a clearly printed brown censor tape with the "e" code for Frankfurt). The cover was sent from Norske Creditbank in Oslo to the Chemical Bank and Trust Company in NYC; the latter tended to be involved in business transactions. Over the address, in the area of the word "Chemical" the 3-line violet (AMERICAN) handstamp can faintly be seen; it is Flynn Type 3 (Flynn page 101) with the text "HELD BY BRITISH / CENSOR / RELS'S [JAN. or Feb.?] 1946". To the right there is a black single-line (BRITISH) "RELEASED" handstamp (markings like this are sometimes seen with three wavy lines above it, but such lines are not evident on this cover). The cover was first received in New York on 13 February 1946 and by Chemical Bank on the 15th. That the Germans allowed the cover to pass but the British (in Bermuda) held the cover strongly suggests that the registered cover between banks cover contained a form of payment that would have been beneficial to the German war effort and their activities in occupied Norway. While it was normal for the Bermuda censors to hold mail containing merchandise, such as stamps and covers, it held business / banking mail is much less seldom seen -- probably because the envelopes were typically discarded upon eventual receipt by the recipient as was most mail. Condemned mail was "put into prize", with the goal of denying the enemy financial resources. Much condemned mail at Bermuda, whose contents were deemed "trivial", was destroyed starting 1 January 1944 due to a serious lack of storage space. Information about this subject and Bermuda-censored mail in general can be found in "Intercepted In Bermuda" by Peter A. Flynn, published in 2006 by The Collectors Club of Chicago. The 115 øre franking is typical of Norwegian registered airmail letters to the U.S. in this time period. The stamps are worn as is the lightweight airmail envelope; all very typical of such mail. Censored covers transiting Bermuda in this time were surveyed by the Bermuda Censorship Project -- only a VERY TINY quantity of censored covers (26, per Flynn -- less than half of one percent of source countries) in the survey came from Norway! Such covers are both very scarce and a very important part of Norwegian postal history. From the Norman Gary collection. ACTUAL item. |
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240469 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
165, 174 pair OR 190, 200 pair [5 øre Posthorn and 40 øre Lion] (VF, watermark status not known) on 18 July 1941 airmail cover from ALGDALSEIDET with bridge cancellations, to the U.S. The reverse bears Nazi censor tape and handstamp ("e" code = Frankfurt). No British censoring (unusual at this point in time) and the U.S. had not started censoring yet. 85 øre rate: 30 surface and 55 air surcharge. Missing part of back. Very unusual small village postmark. ACTUAL item. |
22.00 |
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249522 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
192 (or 167) x3 (single and vertical pair) [1940 unwatermarked (or 1937 watermarked) 10 øre Lion] (VF) on a 30 July 1941 cover from BERGEN to a crew member on board a Norwegian Merchant Marine ship. The cover is addressed care of "Norwegina [sic] Consulate / New York". Opened roughly at left (away from the stamps). The envelope also has a tear below the pair of stamps where somebody started to tear the stamps off the envelope but then thought better of it. This does not affect the overall value and importance for such a significant piece of postal history.) Because it was addressed as consular mail, the Germans supposedly did not open and censor the letter, but instead marked it with a blue "Ab"-in-circle (in Berlin) indicating that they (supposedly) did NOT open the envelope. The sender removed the dark inner lining paper from the envelope according to censorship requirements. Upon arrival at the Norwegian Consulate in New York, the address "s/s Grey County" was added -- the ship which the addressee was on according to their records. See this link for information about the ship -- at the very bottom of that page it provides the ship history following the war, so the ship did survive the war. [That website is "http" instead of "https" and thus the link may give a security warning, but it is a safe website.] What happened after the cover reached the Norwegian Consulate is not known to me because there is next a black boxed handstamp (on front and back) "Received ... FEB 15 1944 ... / BREVCENTRALEN / NORTRASHIP". According to Sanne [Norwegian Exile Mail 1940-1945; the 1986 English translation by the Scandinavian Philatelic Foundation is available from me] this handstamp was applied at the London (England) Nortraship office (the management of the Norwegian Merchant Marine). In his book, Sanne illustrates an example with a February 25 1944 dated marking and he says [as of 1986] "the author only knows of three covers - all with the same date". This cover is especially important because the marking bears a February 15 1944 date and, though other covers may have been discovered since the publication of the book, it is clearly quite rare. In the referenced website it is quite clear that the s/s Grey County was quite busy on convoy duty sand the letter may never have caught up with the ship. Or it could be that if the letter did catch up with the ship, the addressee may no longer have been aboard the ship. I suspect that this marking may only have been used on covers that Nortraship was trying to "resolve" and deliver -- if they did send it onward, that was done enclosed in an outer envelope. The rough opening on the left side suggests that it did either reach the addressee or was returned to the sender. This is an important item in the WWII postal history of the Norwegian Merchant Marine and the Norwegian contribution to the Allied war effort. An exceptional item and certainly the only item of this type that I have had in 51 years! ACTUAL item. |
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229688 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
196 [20 øre Lion] (VF) on December 1941 cover to Sweden with German BLACK "Ao" (indicating not censored) censor handstamp applied at Oslo. ACTUAL item. |
25.00 |
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229687 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
196 [20 øre Lion] (VF) on 14 July 1942 cover to Sweden with German VIOLET "Ao" (indicating not censored) censor handstamp applied at Oslo. ACTUAL item. |
25.00 |
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229720 "View EXACT ACTUAL Image"){kind=small} |
192 pair (VF) on 25 July 1942 cover from OSLO to Sweden with German Oslo Censor printed tape and handstamp. ACTUAL item. |
40.00 |
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