Danish West Indies

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.

O.H.M.S. registered letter from Road Town, Tortola via St. Thomas to Birmingham. Backstamped 'ST. THOMAS 15.3.1917.' with registration mark 'ST. THOMAS / R / 4155' and office stamp 'Post Office, / Virgin Islands' and signature, a very unusual postmark on letters.

“Gratis Postbevis” with printed 'Christiansteds Postkontor / den .... 191 '. Postal receipt for REGISTERED letter '2316' sent from Christiansted to Copenhagen 14 February 1916, for letter franked with 1FR 40 BIT. In total three 'Postbevis' recorded, only known of this type.

Registered letter from Frederiksted 14 May 1909 to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. 50 BIT King Christian IX tied by CDS “FREDERIKSTED 14/5 1909” with registration mark “FREDERIKSTED R. No. 345”. Favored rate 25 BIT within 1500 nautical miles from 1.5.1907 – 30.9.1909 plus 25 BIT registration fee, normal letter rate 40 BIT for all other countries. Announcement in St. Thomas Tidende 16.4.1907, included favored rate to Barbardos, Canada, Cuba, Curacao, USA, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Tobago and Trinidad, lowering the rate from 40 BIT to 25 BIT on 1 May 1907. SUPERB in every respect.

Share affixed with 1 Franc STEMPELMÆRKE paying the fee of 1 franc, stamped '14 MRS 10.08 / THE NATIONAL BANK OF / THE DANISH WEST INDIES', and manuscript of board member 'A. Tofft'. Share of 'The St. Thomas Icefactory - and - Cold Storage Company Limited'. Rare

“Gratis Postbevis” with printed 'Christiansteds Postkontor / den .... 1917 '. Postal receipt for REGISTERED letter '3076' sent from Christiansted to Copenhagen 2 March 1917, for letter franked with 80 BIT. Scarce postal document. In total three 'Postbevis' recorded, only known of this type.

Registered philatelic letter from St. Thomas to Birmingham, England. 5 Francs St. Thomas Harbour cancelled with LAP 'ST. THOMAS / 19./9. 1916.' and registration mark 'ST. THOMAS / R / 9821' and backstamped Registered marks Liverpool and Birmingham 12 October 1916. Censored with British censor seal ' OPENED BY / CENSOR / 1123 ', ONLY RECORDED ST. THOMAS HARBOUR with censorship.

3 cents red-orange stationery envelope with watermark III (1893-94) cancelled with four-ring without dot in St. Thomas and backstamped origin mark 'F' Frederiksted and 'ST. THOMAS 7/11 1895'. 'F' Frederiksted is a scarce postmark.