ISBN 978-1-913015-34-3
The Lesser Trodden Collecting Paths − Postage Due & Other Mails
Taking a broad perspective, the majority of philatelists collect stamps or postal history or both. The stamp focussed collection is clearly all about the stamps, while a postal history collection has a mainstream that includes postmarks, postage routes and postage rates.
However, within the postal history segment, there are several byways and backwaters that have a greater or lesser significance to the philatelic community. These have generally been less researched and written about, yet each of them are fascinating in their own right. This “Book” explores some of these.
One such less trodden collecting path is that of the postage due mails, which is a particular interest of the authors, and is therefore given centre stage with a relatively in depth review of the subject regarding the Rhodesias and Nyasaland postage due mails. Perhaps a slightly more descriptive title for this first section of the book may be “More to Pay Mails”, as there are several reasons why there could be “more to pay”.
Postage due mail normally refers to unpaid of insufficiently paid mail, which is the most common form of postage due mail. However, “more to pay” can also be required when invalid stamps were used to prepay postage, or if a registered piece of mail was not correctly registered at the post office counter or an item was sent without registration for which registration was compulsory. These resulted in an additional charge and was referred to as mail “Posted Out Of Course” (POOC). These, along with other types of postal material, also fall into the broad “more to pay” mail category.
To be able to understand the “more to pay” amounts charged by the post office, it is necessary to have knowledge of the postage rates valid at the time of posting. A fair amount has been published regarding the relevant postage rates of the territories. Much of the published material has only a limited scope, providing information regarding postage rates for the period covered by the specific publication.
This book will therefore attempt to provide a listing of the postage rates from 1890 to around 1990. This is drawn from primary sources wherever possible, but will also take into account the information in previous publications. This should be of general use to collectors of postal history. The other “lesser trodden collecting paths,” such as Meter Mail, Post Office Mail, Official Mail etc. will not be covered in this work.