Danish West Indies

Registered letter from St. Thomas 15 November 1912 to Steyrermühl, Austria. Franked with the entire set of King Frederik VIII issue except for the 50 BIT, overfranked.

St. Thomas 16 July 1857 to Canari, Corsica, France. Stamped with British PO crowned 2-ring red ink 'PAID AT ST.-THOMAS', prepaid '1/2'. Sent with RMSPC steamer 'PARANA' departing from St. Thomas 16 July and arriving at Southampton 1 August. London 'PAID ALL / AU 2 / 1857', red circle 'PD', French 'ANGL / AMB.CALAIS 1 3 AOUT 57', backstamped small double ring 'ST. THOMAS 16 JUL 1857', Paris and receiving mark 'ST-FLORENT-EN-CORSE 9 AOUT 57 / 19'.

Letter from St. Thomas 14 August 1878 to Odense, Denmark. Franked with pair 10 cents I printing (horizontal crease in top of stamps), canceled with antiqua 'ST. THOMAS 14/8 1878' and transit stamped 'LONDON PAID' on front, although still a very rare early letter. UPU 10 cents double letter rate 20 cents 1.9.1877 - 31.12.1901.

Copenhagen 19 September 1851 to St. Croix, Danish West Indies. Royal Service letter to the Governor of Danish West Indies at St. Croix, stamped with boxed 'Aus Daenemarck. / d. Meckleburg', tpo 'HAGENOW-ROSTOCK', 'MAGDEBURG-WITTENBERG', 'BERLIN-HAMBURG', 'BERLIN-MINDEN' and 'AACHEN - BAHNHOF 22/9' and red 1-ring London 'AN 23SP23 1851'. An unusal Royal Service letter to Danish West Indies, effected by the tropical climate.

1 CENT 1901 double postal card from locally within St. Thomas 22 April 1902 and replied on message side St. Thomas 23 April 1902. Chess card sent among soldiers at the fortress at St. Thomas. Only 950 double cards 2nd printing issued with ‘1 CENT 1901’ overprint, very few unsevered provisional double cards recorded.

Registered letter front from Christiansted 16.5.1906 to Aarhus, Denmark. St. Thomas harbour 1 Franc, 2 and 5 Francs together with King Christian IX 5, 10, 20, 25, 40 and 50 BIT, complete sets on cover. Cancelled with cds CHRISTIANSTED 16/5 1906, registration mark 'Dansk Vestindien / R / No. 177 (6284)' and boxed 'Anbefalet'. ONLY THREE RECORDED with complete set of the King Christian IX and St. Thomas Harbour view on cover.

Insufficiently franked letter from St. Kitts 10 April 1895 to St. Thomas, Danish West Indies. A 2 1/2d Leward Islands stamp affixed, not obliterated, and on arrival at St. Thomas charged 10 cents. A note on the letter ‘ad S.T. 448/95’, possible because a clerical note about the missing postage, reception mark ‘ST: THOMAS 11/4 1895’. A rare and unusual postage due letter.

Domestic letter from St. Thomas 24 December 1915 to Christiansted. 10 BIT King Frederik VIII tied by LAP 'ST. THOMAS 24/12 1915', local CHRISTMAS SEAL 1915 on reverse and tied on reception at 'CHRISTIANSTED 24/12 1915', thus cancelled when arrived at Christiansted, very unusual. 10 BIT is the local letter rate within DWI.

Complete letter sheet sent from St. Thomas 25 January 1879 to Saint-Pierre, Martinique. 12 cents I printing tied by datestamp ANT2 'ST. THOMAS 25/1 1879', routing instruction RMSPC ‘ PAR EIDER ’. EIDER left St. Thomas 26th of January and arrived at Martinique en route to Barbados, reception mark on reverse MARTINIQUE * ST. PIERRE * 28 JANV. 79.12 cents 1st transitional UPU rate from 1.9.1877 - 1.4.1879, a rare example of 12c Intra- Caribbean rate, only two such letters recorded in the census with 12c single franking. The 12 cents was the first UPU rate and lowered to 10 cents on 1.4.1879.

3 CENTS single postal card sent from St. Thomas 20 November 1895 to Berlin, Germany. 3 CENTS with 5 text lines (PC5B3a – FG5GII) with imprint type 3, NE-frame line broken near NE-feathers. Cancelled with cds ‘ST. THOMAS 20/11 1895’ and receiving cds ‘GROSS-LICHTEFELDE 2. KADETTEN-ANSTALT / 13/12.95 4-5N’ struck on front. On the back a wonderful drawing depicting Caribbean scenes made by the sailor Pfeiffer, a similar cards from the same sender exists in the Lauth collection. UPU postcard rate 3¢ until 31.12.1901.

3 CENTS stationery envelope from Frederiksted 13 May 1902 sent locally. 3 CENTS red-orange envelope watermark III (Engström E7A) with buttom flap above side flaps. Uprated with 7 CENTS bicolored II printing, 12 CENTS bicolored II printing and 50 CENTS first and second printing, tied by LAP 'FREDERIKSTED 13/5 1902'. Overfranked but hardly any letter is known with the 50 CENTS stamp, here it is with both of the printings.

Letter from St. Thomas 27 April 1873 to Paris, France. British 4d plate 12 and 3d plate 9 cancelled with duplex 'C51 ST-THOMAS / A AP27 73 PAID' alongside red 1-ring 'LONDON M / PAID / F 4 MY73'. From St. Thomas with RMSPC steamer 'ELBE' 28 April and arriving Plymouth 14 MAY 1872. Rate 7d to France from July 1875 - 31.12.1875. One round corner on 4d stamp.

Prepaid entire from Copenhagen 30 October 1857 to St. Croix, Danish West Indies. The rate to DWI 60 sk. paid in cash, the Danish/Foreign share of the rate noted on the front 51 / 9. Postmarked KJØBENHAVN 30/10 1857, KDOPA HAMBURG 31/10, HAMBURG 31 OCT 1857, transit LONDON BG NO2 57 PAID, British post office ST. THOMAS NO 20 1857 and ST. THOMAS 20/11 1857. A due mark in circle PORTO stamped in Danish West Indies, 4¢ due by addressee, this is the earliest recorded PORTO and the most beautiful of letters recorded with this scarce due cancellation.

Domestic letter sent from Kingshill 24 August 1911 to St. Thomas. 10 BIT King Frederik VIII red/red tied by KINGSHILL 24/8 1911 LAP1, with ST. THOMAS 25/8 1911 LAP4 receiving mark on reverse.

Printed matter wrapper band sent from St. Thomas to Jersey City 10 March 1891 bearing two 1 cents VI printing tied by “St. Thomas” CDS. Printed matters are extremely unusual from Danish West Indies, small defect on lower left corner of stamp.

Letter sent from St. Thomas to Jersey City 31 December 1890 bearing a 10 cents V printing tied by “St. Thomas” CDS and NY transit and Jersey City arrival mark on reverse.

Letter from St. Thomas 28 December 1908 to nearby neighbour Island, Tortola. 25 BIT blue/blue Frederik VIII, I printing with medillion shifred exposing a white are above the Kings head, tied by CHRISTIANSTED 28/12 1908 LAP2, transit mark St. Thomas 28/12 on reversing and receiving mark on reverse ROAD-TOWN / TORTOLA V.I. / 8 AM / DE 31 / 1908. Within a 300 miles zone in the Caribbean area a favored rate of 25 BIT were in use from 15.7.1905 – 31.12.1909, a quite scarce DVI letter rate.

3 CENTS carmine WHITE GUM, 1856, Plate I, position 99, burelage Ia. This is one of the few and major significant plate flaws with large colored spot in lower right spandrel just above S and the typical uneven S-frame line from a margin stamp. Distinctly canceled with mute 5-ring canceller. Despite a small thin spot a very attractive example of this rare stamp. Very few stamps with white gum survived the tropical climate, as sheets glued together and was then officially re-gummed with either yellow or brown gum at the pharmacies in St. Thomas and Christiansted.

Letter from Maracaibo 30 April 1873 via St. Thomas 16 May to Vera Cruz, Mexico . British 4d plate 12 cancelled with clear and clean duplex 'C51 ST-THOMAS A / MY16 73 / PAID', routing instruction 'Via San Tomas'. From St. Thomas with RMSPC steamer 'EIDER' 17 May and arriving Vera Cruz 27 May. British packet 4d rate within Caribbean Sea.

Registered postcard from Frederiksted 27 September 1899 to Copenhagen, Denmark. Pair 5 cents bicoloured IV printing cancelled with weak Frederiksted cds. Boxed 'Dansk / Vestindien / R No. 449' and New York registered exchange label '32353' and datestamp 4 October 1899. Copenhagen '15.10.99' receiving mark. 3 cents postcard rate 1.4.1879 - 31.12.1901 plus 7 cents registration fee 1.9.1877 - 31-12.1901, correct 10 cents rate. Registered postcards are rare.

Local letter from St. Jan 20 February 1911 to St. Thomas. 10 BIT King Frederik VIII cancelled with ANT2 'ST. JAN 20/2 1911' and backstamped 'ST. THOMAS 20/2 1911'. 10 BIT local letter rate 1.4.1905 - 31.3.1917.