Dansk Vestindien

15 BIT printed matter wrapper band sent form St. Thomas to New York, bearing a 5 and 10 BIT King Frederik VIII issue tied by CDS “ST. THOMAS 14.9.1913. Plate flaw on 10 BIT, with uneven frame line under left figure 10, AFA spec. 37z. 15 BIT third printed matter rate, each 5 BIT weight step.

Local letter sent from Frederiksted to Christiansted 6 August 1902 bearing a pair 1c Coat of Arms type tied by CDS “FREDERIKSTED 6.8.1902” paying the 2c domestic rate.

Unusual letter sent from Danish West Indies 1840 to the Island of fortress Christiansø in Denmark, where it arrived 18 May 1840. Sent from a soldier to “Premier Lieutenant P. v. Dam”. The letter does not carry any sort of postal markings. The letter contains a parade in DWI where the Governor proclaimed the death of King Frederik VI and the crowning of King Christian VIII.

Entire sent from St. Croix 4 October 1824 to Bethlehem, Pensylvania. Stamped “SHIP” in red and 1-ring CDS “NEW YORK Jan 31”. Charged 27 cents ?

Entire sent from Puerto Cabello via St. Thomas to New York 31 October 1870, charged 4 cents stamped by “NEW YORK SHIP LETTER - 4 - NOV 28” and posted aboard the steamer “Thomas Dallett”.

Mixed franking CENTS/BIT 1 Cent Coat of Arms postcard and 5 BIT King Christian IX supplementary franking sent from St. Thomas to Montserrat 7. October 1905, a scarce destination. 1 Cent counted for 5 BIT, total postage 10 BIT for UPU countries. Mixed frankings CENT/BIT issues are rarities. Francs/BIT were introduced 15th July 1905.

Letter St. Thomas 3 December 1902 to Ysla Culebra, Puerto Rico. 4¢ bicolored III printing normal frame and 1¢ Coat-of-Arms issue (AFA 7B,16) tied by “ST. THOMAS 3/12 1902”. ”. Within a 300 miles zone in the Caribbean area a favored rate of 5¢ were in use from 1.4.1879 – 14.7.1905, this late and with the combination quite scarce.

"Folded letter dated St. Thomas 29 August 1869, to Manzanillo, cuba. Prepaid with two French 30c. Empire for the 60c Caribbean rate, tied by anchor lozenge cancel and French CDS “ * LIGNE – D / PAQ. FR. *. No. 1 * ”, rarely used on mail from St. Thomas. I have recorded two no. 1 and one no. 2 and CDS "ST. THOMAS / 31/8 1869", vertical fold through stamps, Manzanillo 11 SEP, charged “2” reales fee in Cuba."

Entire dated St. Croix 25 March 1783 sent to Arbroath, North Brittain. Arrived in Liverpool and struck “LIVERPOOL / SHIP LRE” on front, with part of red strike SHIP where only IP is readable, and transit 1-line mark CARLISLE on reverse. Charged “9” with 1d captain’s fee, 4d (over 80 miles) to Carlisle and 4d to Arbroath, total 9d. Charges as double weight letter, 1d plus 2x 8d, total 1/5 (=17d). An charge of 1/7 crossed out and not counted. A rare and early letter from The Colonial postal period 1754-1807.

Unpaid letter sent from St. Thomas to Glasgow 13 November 1835 by British Packet and charged 2/5, picked up by the Leeward Islands Packet from Barbados and carried to Falmouth, the inland to Glasgow and stamped “LEEWARD ISLAND F” in green. Single letter rate 1813 - 37 1 SH 2d and inland rate 2 SH 3d, total 2/5.

TEN CENTS HAPAG margin pair on piece with triple embossing of the white center on the stamp to the right in a pair with a normal embossed example, a world rarity of a private steam ship stamps. Double embossing is recorded in the literature, although a triple embossing a first time and what's add to the allure of the stamp is the combination of normal and triple embossing shown in pair, from pos. 1 and 2 in the sheet with full corner margin, on piece, cancelled with Danish West Indies 'ST. THOMAS 2/8 1875.

20 BIT King Christian IX die colour proof in the approved dull ultramarine colour.. Printed on large paper 67 x 80 mm without watermark and gum. Only a few recorded.

5 CENTS Coat of Arms issue, imperforate, colour proofs, on large paper format, thin paper, without gum and watermark.

Letter from Sailor D. Lamont, S. Steward, on board HMS “Aboukir” on (29) September 1870 to Stoke, Devonport, England. Commanding Officer confirmed soldiers letter rate with signature, franked with 1d plate 122 cancelled with horizontal type 1b ‘C51’ St. Thomas. From St. Thomas with RMSPC steamer 'SHANNON' 29 august arriving Plymouth 12 September and backstamped 'DEVENPORT CO / SP13 / 70'. Sailors letters at favoured 1d rate from St. Thomas are scarce.

Printed matter from St. Thomas 23 October 1865 to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, Canada. British 1d plate 74 cancelled with horizontal 'C51' St. Thomas, backstamped single-line arc 'ST. - THOMAS A /OC23 65' with code letter A. This postmark is extremely rare, four recorded examples in the DWI census, not listed in the publication 'GB Used Abroad: Cancellations and Postal markings by John Parmenter and Ken Gordon.

Registered postcard from Frederiksted 13 December 1899 to Copenhagen, Denmark. Pair 1 cent X printing inverted frame and 3-strip 5 cent IV printing, canceled with datestamp lapidar 'FREDERIKSTED 13.12.1899, registration mark 'Dansk Vestindien / R No. 663/7507' and stamped on arrival 'KJØBENHAVN 5.1.00 3-9E'. Routing instruction 'via St. Thomas & Hamburg'. Franked as a letter 10 cents UPU rate 1.9.1877 - 31.12.1901, registration fee 7 cents 1.9.1877 - 31.12.1905, total 17 cents. Rate for postcards only 3 cents.

Local letter from Christiansted 22 December 1906 to St. Thomas. 5 BIT King Christian IX cancelled with cds ‘CHRISTIANSTED 22/12 1906’ LAP3. Domestic letter rate 10 BIT from 15.6.1905 – 31.3.1917, 5 BIT insufficiently franked, due double 5 BIT = 10 BIT charged and stamped circle ‘T’ on front. On reverse a pair of 5 BIT EFTERPORTO tied by cds ‘ST. THOMAS 23/12 1906’ LAP type. This being the only recorded LOCAL LETTER WITH EFTERPORTO stamps used in payment for missing postage, thereby not taken into considering the relative large numbers of consignees letters that are known with due stamps. A great postal history rarity.

Folded parcel paper to make up for a letter on official matter from St. Thomas 11 October 1916 to General Office for the Postal Service in Copenhagen, noted on front ' Postanliggende ' (postal matters), and registration mark 'ST. THOMAS / R / 10544' and on reverse paper seal 'ST. THOMAS KGL. POSTKONTOR D.V.I.'. Being an official letter sent free of charge, such letters are almost non existent.

St. Thomas manilla label with preprinted 'Antilles Danoises. / Dépêche de St. Thomas pour / ...... / Veuillez revoyer cette étiquette. ', with added text 'Korsör - Kiel, Danmark.' - For mailbag sent directly with Danish ship to Korsör from Danish West Indies. Only recorded such manilla label.

Letter from Caracas June 1867 to Bordeaux, France. Local ship letter stamp with all perforations intact, Dos Reales green SAN TOMAS – LA GUIAIRA – Pto CABELLO (FACIT LG17) tied by provisional handstamp ‘ 1¼ and on front senders cachet ‘MONTAMAT & DOUE / CARACAS’. Sent via ST. THOMAS, on reverse red LONDON JU 26 66 and reception mark Bordeaux 28 Jun, transit Paris. French due ‘20’ decimes. Arrived at Southampton with RMSPC steamer MERSEY.

Wrapper for printed matter from Frederiksted 25 March 1912 to Copenhagen, Denmark. 10 BIT King Frederik VIII tied by LAP datestamp FREDERIKSTED 25/3 1912. UPU printed matter rate 5 BIT for each 50 gram 1.4.1905 – 31.3.1917, 50-100 gram is 2x 5 BIT = 10 BIT. Very few wrappers have survived.