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.