The Egypt Study Circle
- Frames 1-13
- Frames 14-26
- Frames 27 - 51
Frames 14-15. The French Post Offices in Egypt.
There were four French Post Offices in Egypt: Alexandrie (1837-1931), Suez (1862-1888), Le Caire (1866-1875) and Port-Saïd (1867-1931). They used French stamps until 1899, when the two offices still in existence, Alexandrie and Port-Saïd, were issued with stamps bearing their own names. At first these were overprints, but in 1902 they were issued with French stamps (Blanc, Mouchon and Merson designs) specifically redrawn with the name of the post-office and the words POSTE FRANÇAISE. The same applied to Postal Stationery. From 1921, due to the devaluation of the French franc, these stamps were surcharged in Egyptian millièmes.
The display concentrates on 20th century issues, showing a selection of
covers with a bias towards Registered and Insured (CHARGÉ) letters.
Registration labels were received in 1910, and their "R" was cropped when
used for insured letters. Registered postcards were unusual.
Since virtually identical sets were issued for Alexandrie and Port-Saïd,
only one of these offices is represented here in turn for each issue, to
avoid duplication in this small display: a) the1902-03 basic issue, used
until 1921; b) the Paris overprints in millièmes of 1921; c) the
addition of bars over the old values (1924-25); d) finally the stamp values
directly printed in millièmes (1927-8). The 4 mill/10 c green Mouchon
stamp is an exception, being only issued for Alexandrie, and is briefly
studied, as well as the Port-Saïd Red Cross stamp of 1915.
In 1920, Port-Saïd stamps were used at Alexandrie when that office had a stamp shortage (cover with a block of 25 x 1c, paying the 25c UPU letter rate). Also shown is a 1925 cover from the French Consulate in Djeddah, in the Hejaz (modern Saudi Arabia), which used Port-Said stamps to pay the postage from that office to France, its journey up the Red Sea being in the care of a ship's captain.
To help to restore France's economy, from 1927 to 1931 Sinking Fund stamps were issued in France as well as in the French Post Offices abroad. Displayed here is one of the "Épreuve de Luxe" for the Alexandrie and Port-Saïd joint Sinking Fund issues, together with a cover bearing one of these "Caisse d'Amortissement" stamps, seldom seen on regular mail.
Other auxiliary markings are illustrated. To be noted in particular are Port-Saïd's scarce cachet "Retour à l'Envoyeur" (Return to Sender) – on a cover with five different ships' postmarks). Also "Taxe à Percevoir pour Insuffisance d'Affranchissement" (a provisional overprint of 1921, when the Port-Saïd office ran out of postage due stamps).
Postage Due stamps were also surcharged and later printed in millièmes. Examples of these are illustrated on cover. To be noted, the 1929 use of Postage Due to pay the Poste Restante fee on a letter from France to Djibouti, redirected to Port-Saïd.
Both the Alexandrie and Port-Saïd post offices were closed on March 31, 1931.
Pierre Louis Grech, United Kingdom (ESC 266)
Frames 16-17. The British (Consul) Post Office in Alexandria.
The need to establish a British Post Office in Egypt (Alexandria) was no doubt brought about because of the earlier mails between England and India being transited across Egypt by Lieutenant Thomas Waghorn in the early 1830s. Although three British Post Offices (Alexandria, Cairo and Suez) were eventually set up in Egypt the material in these two frames deals only with the office in Alexandria.
An official packet agency (its precise location is not known, but it was believed to be near the dock area) was opened in Alexandria in August 1839 and Mr H. Johnson was appointed British Agent. In 1858, because of the volume of work, the packet agency was upgraded to a post office and Mr R. Thorne replaced Mr Johnson.
The post office was established in the British Consulate on February 23, 1859. In August that year the General Post Office in London supplied adhesive stamps and a B01 obliterator to cancel them. The post office closed on April 1, 1878, but the GPO in London retained the right to maintain an agency if it so wished.
Frame 16: On display are early items of mail beginning with two letters posted to Malta in April 1842; an example of the handstruck Crowned 'Paid at Alexandria' mark; mail transiting through the British Post Office at Alexandria, incoming letters and a letter (1855) from Cairo (the British post office there did not open until February 23,1859). Examples of the large and small 'town & date' datestamps are shown, together with a letter forwarded by the famous Samuel Shepheard. This frame finishes with examples of the types of B01 obliterators and range of the British stamps used.
Frame 17: This frame begins with a combination cover showing the use of Egyptian and British stamps; this was required because British stamps paid postage only from Alexandria to Great Britain or British possessions. Also displayed are an "insufficiently paid" letter, a registered letter and other letters demonstrating the different types of B01 obliterators. Incoming mail is also shown. The frame finishes with archival examples of a B01 obliterator and a "town & date" stamp retained by De La Rue for experimental purposes.
P Robin Bertram, FRPSL, United Kingdom (ESC 137)
Frames 18-19. The De La Rue Issues of 1879 to 1882.
On March 30, 1878, the Egyptian Postal Administration wrote to Thomas De La Rue and Company of London to request estimates for the preparation of a new issue of postage stamps in six values. A proposed design with examples of the colours desired for each value was enclosed with the letter. After several exchanges of correspondence and drawings, it was agreed that De La Rue and Company would produce the stamps. The accepted design consisted of a central vignette of the Sphinx and Great Pyramid, similar to the vignettes that had appeared on Egypt's Second and Third Issues in 1867-69 and 1872-75. At the suggestion of De La Rue and Company, different frames were designed for each of the six values.
Thus began a long and productive association between De La Rue and the Postal Administration that lasted for more than 40 years. Between 1879 and 1909 the same central sphinx and pyramid vignette appeared on several additional issues of general postage, official, and revenue stamps, as well as on postal stationary.
This collection traces the early development and production of the De La Rue sphinx and pyramid issues of postage stamps from 1878 to 1882 before Egypt joined the Universal Postal Union. Included are original pen and ink drawings of the proposed design and inscriptions, hand-painted essays of several values, essays of proposed watermarks, colour recipes, and blocks from the registration sheets from the Thomas De La Rue and Company archives. Also shown are the issued stamps and a range of covers and postal documents showing many different postal rates, routes and markings, including covers from Egyptian Post Offices abroad and British military post offices in Egypt.
Trent Ruebush, United States (ESC 179)
Frames 20-21. The Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 (also known as the Arabi Rebellion).
In 1882 Great Britain sent its Mediterranean fleet to Alexandria attempting to exert a calming influence during the political crisis under the virtual dictator of Egypt, Colonel Arabi Pasha, the War Minister. However, rioting erupted, Europeans were killed, and the Egyptians continued to fortify their defences around the city in defiance of British demands. After an ultimatum to surrender the area forts was ignored, the fleet bombarded Alexandria on July 11 and the city was occupied a few days later.
By the end of July additional British troops arrived and in mid-August they moved to the Suez Canal and occupied Ismailia. The forces advanced, taking Kassassin on August 26. The battle of Tel el-Kebir took place on September 13 and Cairo was secured the next day. Arabi fled but was captured on the 17th, tried and sent into exile. This campaign was the first for the newly formed Army Postal Corps, which arrived on August 21. Egyptian civilian postal facilities were also used.
Among the interesting items are: a letter from an Egyptian officer to Colonel Arabi commenting on the activities of the British fleet off Alexandria; a cover written by a naval officer from Alexandria on July 20; the earliest known use of the British Army Post Office Egypt circular date stamp on August 24, 1882 at Port Said; a cover with the BAPO/C circular datestamp of 26 AU 82, the day the British Army Post Office opened at Ismailia; the only known British post card from the campaign, the only recorded cover with the BA/E duplex; and the latest known date of use for the BAPO datestamp (on one of two known registered covers).
The sub-section of the Indian Army forces includes: one of the two known Indian post cards cancelled with the Indian Field Force postmark; the four known outgoing covers with Indian postage stamps, including the only one with both Field Force P.O. markings, and the earliest of the four known outgoing covers with Indian postage stamps.
Richard Wilson, FRPSL, United States (ESC 230)
Frames 22-23. Maritime Mail.
These two frames contain sheets selected from various parts of my collection. Maritime mail concerns mail posted on board ship and these sheets show examples of some of the markings which have been applied.
The earliest mail did not bear any postal markings, and I show two entires to Venice of 1738 and 1742 bearing the ship captain's name. These are followed by an 1838 entire from Bombay to Glasgow which obviously could travel only part of the journey by sea.
The first Egyptian marking for mail posted on board ship and landed at any Egyptian port for handling by the Egyptian Post Office was the retta, and early covers are very rare. There seems to be a period of use at the end of the 19th century and a reintroduction in the 1930s.
This was followed by Egypt complying with the UPU Convention of 1891 and adopting the PLEINE MER handstamp for Alexandria, Port Said and Suez. Subsequently, the UPU settled on the word PAQUEBOT and Egypt introduced straight-line hand-stamps and later circular ones incorporating the port's name.
On-board mail sorting offices were introduced by a number of steamship companies and examples are shown for the Khedivial Mail Line, P. &O., Limassol Steamship Co. and Royal Rumanian lines.
Two covers are also shown where the purser, not being a government postal officer, has used a handstamp identifying the ship and line.
Two covers show French entry marks at Marseilles and one a Marseilles tax mark. One postcard is special postal stationery issued for German troops on naval ships and transports.
Finally, one card from the shipwrecked SS Cairo in 1905 and one World War I army shipwreck cover are also displayed.
Stanley Horesh, United Kingdom (ESC 118)
Frame 24. The Early Postage Dues.
Postage due stamps were introduced in Egypt in 1884, following upon an earlier agreement on the method to be used for determining charges on short-paid mail (ie, double the deficiency).
The first postage due stamps were printed by V Penasson, using lithography on a residue of paper from the Second Issue. The paper had an impressed pseudo-watermark. A second printing, made in 1886, was without watermark. All values were in the same colour, red.
The currency reform of 1888, which did away with paras and introduced the millième, necessitated revised postage due stamps, which were now printed in a different colour for each denomination. This issue had the short life of one year, after which it was superseded by stamps printed in England by Thomas De La Rue & Co.
The Penasson issues had a variety of errors of missing perforation. Most of the known errors are included in this display.
Use of postage due stamps on cover is an especially difficult subject, but a good selection of them is shown here. Among them are covers from abroad, such as from the Indian post office in Bushire. The denominations had been chosen to fit the needs of internal mail, at double deficiency.
Since the lowest rate was 5 paras (newspapers), 10 paras was the lowest denomination. For short-paid international mail, this sometimes caused a problem. Accordingly, amounts less than multiples of 10 paras were rounded upwards.
Notable are the covers of the 1888 issue, which are especially elusive, and one unique cover with the 1884 5-piastres, incoming from Italy, an incoming cover from Gibraltar, and the cover to the Canadian Voyageurs with postage due stamps cancelled at Wadi Halfa. Also deserving special attention is the page of the 5 piastres grey of 1888, showing rare multiples, including a probably unique block of four.
Peter A S Smith, FRPSL, United States (ESC 74)
Frames 25-26. The 1898 postage due bisect and the 1898-circa 1909 provisional surcharges on the 1889 2 piastres postage due stamp.
In
1896 large numbers of Egyptian and British forces were sent to engage the
forces of the Khalifa, whose control of the Sudan had been nearly absolute
since the murder of Gordon at Khartoum in 1885. For letters to Egypt, all
enlisted men and NCOs in the embattled areas were granted a concessionary
rate (3 millièmes in lieu of the inland rate of 5 millièmes;
and for letters to Britain and the Empire, British Empire men and NCOs
were given a rate of 5 millièmes, half the 1 piastre foreign letter
rate). As stamps were often unavailable at the front, many letters were
sent unfranked. Normally these would be taxed 6 mills (twice the deficiency)
on arrival in Egypt, but in war conditions, a dispensation was granted:
if soldiers marked the letter "No Stamps Available" and had it countersigned
by the commanding officer, it was taxed only 3 mills. As no postage due
stamp existed to collect a 3 mills tax, a Governmental Decree of 14 February
1898 allowed for collection by means of an entire 2 mills green 1889 due
stamp and a diagonally bisected half of the same. Genuine covers showing
the bisected usage are rarely seen. The earliest legitimate date of use
seen by me is 11 MR 98 at Suez; the latest confirmed legitimate usage is
dated 22 VI 98 at Ismailia. Dangerous, cleverly forged covers (and fragments)
exist.
Use
of the bisected 2m stamps was a temporary measure, and, on or about 28
April 1898, surplus quantities of the 1899 2 piastres orange and yellow-orange
due stamp (unsurfaced paper), were issued with a black bilingual surcharge. 
The
provisional overprinting was made on panes of 60 stamps (10 x 6) via a
typographic forme of 60 subjects (randomly composed of six basic types
of stereotyped subjects). Though only one overprinting forme was employed,
it metamorphosed into various states as a result of damage and subject
substitutions. Most notable are State 2, in which the Arabic figures "R" ("3")
of the six subjects of the tenth (right-hand) column appeared as Arabic
figures "Q" ("2") as a result of impact damage; 
State
2A, in which the offending Arabic figures "Q" were overprinted "R" by a
typographic forme prepared for that purpose; and State 3, in which the
six stereos were substituted by undamaged subjects. In addition, numerous
surcharge errors (inverted; doubled and misplaced, some stamps having one
impression "albino" [all from a single pane of 60 stamps]; vertical pair
with surcharge misplaced both horizontally and vertically, but missing
on the lower or upper stamp [11 examples possible], etc.) and varieties
(horizontal and vertical misplacements; partial images, etc.) occurred.
After the Battle of Omdurman (2 to 4 September 1898), postage stamps became
more accessible, and the need for the surcharged postage due stamps was
greatly lessened. Military covers taxed by the provisional stamp are extremely
rare (dangerous and fairly abundant forged "military" covers exist). Surviving
covers sent by Egyptian troops are nearly non-existent. Although not widely
needed, the stamps continued to be used to collect the tax on unpaid or
underpaid letters in Egypt. Most notable was the payment of the tax on "Empire-rate" letters
franked 1 penny or its Empire equivalent, but redirected to Egypt. Although
underfranked by 1 ½ pence (the rate to Egypt was 2 ½d), in
keeping with UPU regulations these were not subject to doubling of the
deficiency. Such covers - among the greatest rarities of Egyptian philately
- bear two of the provisional stamps to pay the 6 mills (1 ½d) tax.
Additionally, the provisional stamp could theoretically have been used
to collect the 6 mills tax on unpaid 3 mills "En Ville" covers on civilian
mail on Egypt, but none is known to have survived. The latest confirmed
postal usage I have seen of the 1898 surcharge is dated 4.IV.08, at Cairo
(cancelled-to-order stamps are quite abundant, and some stamps have been
seen with fake postmarks).
Although employment of the provisional stamps could not have been widespread in the first few years of the 20th century, they continued to be used. The stock apparently became depleted so much as to require additional overprintings in 1904 (previously thought to have been 1905, but now proved earlier by my observation of postmarks. The earliest I have seen is 1 XI 04 at Port Said). As the 60-subject forme had been scrapped, or was unusable, a new typographic forme of five identical stereotyped groups of six subjects, arranged to create a printing surface of 30 images (5 x 6), was prepared. The 1904 surcharge differed from its predecessor in that the "French" measured 19.5mm to 19.75mm (as opposed to 20.5mm to 21.0mm), the "Arabic" 17.75mm to 18.0mm (17.25mm to 17.5mm earlier), and, most importantly, the 1898 first "alef" ("["), was changed to "«", in which a "hamza" ("Δ") appears above it. The 1904 surcharge was applied to half-panes (blocks of 30 stamps) of the 2 piastres postage due stamp. As that did not appear on chalk-surfaced paper until circa 1906, the initial overprinting was on unsurfaced-paper stamps. Chalk-surfaced 2pts stamps were not surcharged until 1907 (or perhaps 1908: the earliest postmark date seen by me on a chalk-surfaced stamp is 16 VI 08). Well into the chalk-surfaced overprinting (perhaps in late 1908), a substitution of the forme's second stereo column was made, apparently as a result of the disappearance of some elements of the Arabic overprint on position 17. The cure proved worse than the disease: the first letter "l" of position 17 was short (from a different font), there was severe distortion to the first "l" of position 22 (the so-called ' drunken "l" ' variety), and the figures "3" on positions 17, 22 and 27 were incomplete. As with the previous issue, various surcharge errors exist (inverted [unsurfaced and surfaced]; doubled [surfaced only, one block of 30 stamps]; turned 90 degrees clockwise [unsurfaced only, one block of 30 stamps]). Unlike the 1898 issue, no 1904 provisionals are known with surcharges significantly misplaced. The 1904 issue continued to be used as (and in conjunction with, for some time) stamps of the previous issue. Genuine covers are among Egypt's rarest postal history items. The latest postal usage I have seen of a 1904 provisional is 28 XII 13, at Luqsor. As with the 1898 surcharge, CTO stamps abound and fake postmarks are often seen.
Circa
1909, a further typographic surcharging forme was produced, again applied
to chalk-surfaced 2pts postage due stamps, but possibly only as an essay.
Very few examples have survived ... the largest recorded multiple was a
block of 12, now exploded. This surcharge differed greatly from the previous
two, in that its text was neater and more sharply defined, and the image
was applied at a less acute angle. Most significantly, the "French" was
followed by a full stop (see above), while the
"Arabic" was
larger, and its font was considerably altered (see right). In the end,
it was presumably decided that the small numbers of such stamps required
did not merit the expense and effort of producing a third provisional issue,
and the concept was apparently abandoned.
The collection and study of the 1898 to circa-1909 provisional postage due surcharges constitutes one of the most complex and philatelically rich challenges for the Egypt specialist, and I attempt to do full justice to that richness in these 24 pages.
Charles F. Hass, United States (ESC 181)
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