Why is outgoing mail to (and incoming mail from) Ireland so scarce? Updated!

Outgoing Mail to Ireland

Luxembourg's Allegory postal stationery from the 1880s and 1890s is quite common. This means that you can collect the Allegory stationery by destination. And over the past 50 years, that's what I've done.

One destination that has proven elusive over the years is Ireland.  And that seems strange, since mail from Luxembourg to England is often found.

Thus, for me the two cards shown below are very special.

 Relais No. 5 [Mamer]

transit Luxemburg-Gare

to Newtownforbes, 

County Longford,

Ireland

2 Jun 1889

5-centime Third Allegory Issue

Uprated

Luxembourg-Ville
to Blackrock, Ireland,

in 1894

5-centime Third Allegory Issue
Uprated

This card was sent on 23 March 1894 to the Dominican Convent at Sion Hill House in Blackrock, a suburb of Dublin.  The Dominicans had purchased the Sion Hill House in the 1830s, when they first came to Blackrock.

Incoming Mail from Ireland

Equally, or even more, challenging is incoming mail from Ireland.  I've seen none from the 19th century, and that is surprising.  

I can show only one item, a postcard sent as printed matter to Schifflange on the 7th of March, 1932.  It bears a double-ring Baile Atha Cliath [Dublin] postmark on the address side and a Dublin thimble cancel on the stamp on the view side.  The view shows Grafton Street, Dublin.  The stamp is the 2d 1930 commemorative for the opening of the Shannon River Hydroelectric Station.  The Schifflange bridge cancel is dated 9 March 1932.

Dublin, Ireland,

to Schifflange 

in 1932

The 40-day period in 1921 when the domestic postal card rate exceeded the UPU rate!

1 April 1921 to 10 May 1921

On April 1, 1921, Luxembourg’s domestic postal card rate was increased from 10 to 15 centimes.

However, the UPU postal card rate (including the rate to Belgium, France, and Germany) remained at 10 centimes until May 10, 1921, when it was increased to 20 centimes.

Here are a few examples:

Example 1 

 

10c Domestic Rate – 30 March 1921

(2 days before the Domestic Rate increase)

Remich-Luxembourg Convoyage RPO
to Esch-sur-Sûre

 

Example 2

15c Domestic Rate – 1 April 1921
(First day of Domestic Rate increase)
5c shortpaid – taxed!

(Written at Dahl on 31 March – Posted on 1 April)

Wiltz
to
Esch-sur-Sûre

 

Example 3

15c Domestic Rate – 15 April 1921
5c shortpaid – taxed!

Wiltz
to
Esch-sur-Sûre
(Due stamp removed?)

 

Example 4

15c Domestic Rate – 12 Apr 1921
15c rate paid
Old 1907 UPU card uprated

Remich
to
Grevenmacher

Example 5

15c Domestic Rate – 3 May 1921
15c rate paid
Uprated Old 1907 10c UPU card

Esch-sur-Alzette
to
Differdange

Example 6

 

10c UPU Rate – 22 Apr 1921

1920 Domestic Card

Wecker
to
Insterburg, East Prussia

(Today: Chernyakhovsk in Kaliningrad, Russia)

Watch for postal cards used during this curious 40-day period! They are surprisingly difficult to find. And who has the postcards from this period?

Postal historian Hans-Ulrich Doose has written about the 40-day period in an article entitled “Luxemburger Porto-Ungereimtheiten [English: rate inconsistencies] 1921,” which appeared in Le Moniteur du Collectionneur. Citation to follow.

Sure, Esch-sur-Sûre! And Happy Halloween.

Misaddressed Incoming Mail

 

 

  
New York, N.Y. Sta. A

22 Oct 1928
to
Esch-sur-Alzette, Belguim [sic]
 

The Demuth brothers were prominent curtain makers in Esch-sur-Sûre. They received mail from many foreign countries, including mail from geographically challenged writers who simply addressed their correspondence to “Esch” (see below) or to “Esch-sur-Alzette” when “Esch-sur-Sûre” was the correct destination.
 

And the geographically challenged writer of the postal card shown above added to the confusion by directing the card to “Esch-sur-Alzette, Belguim” (his misspelling, not mine). A postal clerk has corrected the address to “Esch Sauer” (German for Esch-sur-Sûre). By car on A4, Esch-sur-Alzette and Esch-sur-Sûre are about 72 km. apart.

Elsewhere, I have blogged about mail to “Luxemburg, France.” That post is here.

San Francisco, Calif.
25 Feb 1924
to
Esch Sur, Luxembourg

transit
Esch-Sur-Alzette,
17 Mar 1924 [7:00-8:00 a.m.]

received at
Esch-sur-Sûre,
17 Mar 1924 [4:00-5:00 p.m.]

In the 1920s, postal clerks were amazing. Some still are!

Beware! Backdated Use of the Luxembourg-Ville V Cancel on Scarce Postal Stationery

 

 

 

Used examples of the 12 1/2c Message-Reply card are scarce, seldom appear on the market, and command high prices.  But be careful.  Here the Luxembourg-Ville V double-circle cancel was backdated to 3 July 1879, making this 12 1/2c Message card appear to have been postally used to Metz.  But the double circle cancel did not come into use until 1883!  So obviously this is a backdated cancel. 

The absence of a receiving mark is another clue that this is a bogus use of the 12 1/2c card.

The card comes from an old German worldwide postal stationery accumulation of about 4000 cards, which were collected before WW1 and stored away until a few years ago.  So the fakery occurred long ago.

Let me know if you have seen other backdated uses of the Luxembourg-Ville V cancel, or any other cancels. 

Thanks to Luxembourg’s outstanding proofer, Lars Boettger, for alerting me to the bogus status of this usage!

Sometimes mourning need not be sad (updated below)

Luxembourg-Ville IV
23 Sep 1918

Censored at Trier

Special Delivery to
Munich, Bavaria

Nothing to be sad about when you find a mourning cover sent by special delivery with G.D. Marie Adélaïde franking!

But who was the sender who was in mourning?  Where is/was Koenig Rieg in Luxembourg?

F. Zimmer

Bei den Krankgebruedern

Koenig Rieg. Luxemburg

And who was the “high-born” recipient?

Hochwohlgeboren

Frau Oberst-Lieutenent

Rothlauf

Prinzregentenstraße 11a

Muenchen / Bayern

Dieter Basien kindly answers some of my questions:

Bei den Krankenbrüdern

= (Convent / Kloster)

Königs-Ring = Boulevard Royal

in Luxembourg-Ville

Early Publishers: Schock—Welter—Franck—Zahn

 

 

 

Luxembourg-Gare
30 Nov 1899
to
Condé-en-Brie, France
2 Dec 1899

 

 

 

Luxembourg-Gare
14 Mar 1900
to
Munich, Germany
15 Mar 1900

Luxembourg-Gare
30 Sep 1900
transit New York, N.Y.
10 Oct 1900
to
Muscatine, Iowa, USA
12 Oct 1900

 

 

Luxembourg-Gare
6 Nov 1900
to
Brussels, Belgium
6 Nov 1900

 

 

 

Luxembourg-Gare A
13 Dec 1909
to
Gelsenkirchen

 

Esch-sur-Alzette
7 Jun 1890
to
Paris, France
8 Jun 1890

 

 

Esch-sur-Alzette
24 May 1890
Transit Luxembourg-Gare II
24 May 1890
to
Borgerhout-Anvers,
Belgium

 

Luxembourg-Ville
2 Apr 1900
to
Munich, Germany
3 Apr 1900

 

 

 

 

Luxembourg-Ville I
29 Mar 1907
to
Stuttgart, Germany
30 Mar 1907

In Le Moniteur du Collectionneur (1989:3 at pp. 126-135), Gaston Holzmacher has published a detailed article about Léon Franck’s philatelic endeavors.

Through these old cards, we can share in the philatelic pleasure of these early publishers.