Markings on a Letter to France (2002)
[Published by kind permission of the author.]
I recently acquired a cover which has a 2EDON marking, which I had not seen previously. The cover has also quite a few other markings. Which ones can you identify and explain?
Figure 1. The opened out letter and the markings discussed.
The cover is from Havana (dateline 1 May 1841) via le Havre to Paris. This mark is on the reverse, adjacent to a blue Paris cds of 5 June 1841. The orange marking is 2eDon. It is in a rectangular frame, 1.4 cm by 0.6 cm. The letters “e”, “o” and “n” are raised, and there are full-stops under the “e” and “o”. My guess is that it is a mark applied in Paris, maybe to identify the postman’s round. “2e” must stand for second, in the same way that in English we use the abbreviation “2nd”. Maybe it stands for 2nd Division, indicating the section of Paris, where the letter was to be delivered.
Fortunately, I chose the right person to ask for an explanation. Peter Kelly, from Bristol, England is a colleague from the Society of Postal Historians, and he has a very detailed knowledge of French postal markings.
Peter confirmed that this abbreviation stands for “Second Distribution”. It relates to an unpaid letter which could not be delivered on the first round and this mark was made to record that. Any delay, for whatever reason, had to be noted. Peter did not see the cover, but believes that the mark should be red, yet it seems to me to be orange.
The letter has other markings, which are found on other letters to France at that time.
OUTRE-MER CDS
This red circular date-stamp is inscribed OUTRE MER / LE HAVRE. Outre-Mer means Overseas, and this mark is applied to letters arriving by ship at a French port, in this case Le Havre. It would not normally be used on letters from England, because the Anglo-French Convention was in force.
MANUSCRIPT 10
This is in the top left of the obverse. It indicates the weight range, 10-to-15 grams. Note that the French Post Office wrote the lower limit of the weight band.
MANUSCRIPT 11
This is the postal charge expressed in décimes. 1 franc was divided into 10 décimes or 100 centimes. The distance from le Havre to Paris was in the 150-to-220 kilometre range, for which the single rate is 5 décimes. Letters in the weight band 10-to-15 grams, were charged twice the single rate, namely 10 décimes. There was also a charge of 1 décime for the ship letter fee (which was independent of the weight).
References
I thank Peter Kelly for his assistance in identifying this mark.
Richardson, Derek & John Whiteside. “Office-to-Office letter rates between 1792 and 1849″. Journal of France & Colonies P.S., Dec 1997, pages 177-181.
