Pre-Stamp & Stampless

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”.

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.

Folded letter dated St. Croix 3 March 1838 to London, then readdressed to Caen, France. Packet single letter rate to London 1813-1837 2sh2d and stamped boxed red ‘PACKET LETTER’. Readdressed and posted from London 10 April, stamped French ‘ANGLETERRE-PAR-CAEN 11 AVR 1833’ and charged 25 decimes.

Folded letter dated St. Croix 15 July 1817 to Aberdeen via Lancaster, Great Britain. By ship and on arrival stamped framed, stepped ‘LALNCASTER / SHIP LETTER’ and backstamped fleuron ‘LANCASTER / 9 SEP 9 / 1817 / o 239 o’ and red ‘SEP / W M / 1811’. Routing instruction noted ‘Ship Neptune / Via Lancaster. Charge note ‘1/8’ due.

Letter sent from P. Camp to Paris through the British Post Office at St. Thomas 23 October 1871, franked at St. Thomas with 3 and 4d tied by C51 vertical format, showing 1-ring “St. Thomas PAID A” in red, London transit mark and exchange office “Angl. Amb. Calais F”. Round corner at 3d stamp and interesting plate flaw at 4d stamp, vertical fold in cover not affecting the stamps.

Letter sent from St. Thomas to Kingston, Jamaica 12 April 1864 with British mail at 4d rate. Red “ST. THOMAS A - PAID” and Kingston receiving mark on front, with contents.

Envelope forwarded from St. Thomas to Rocky Hills, Conn, charged “6” cents and Boston, Mass. CDS on front and “SHIP” mark, ca. 1850'ies. On reverse forwarding agent mark “FORWARDED BY - G.W. SMITH & CO. - ST. THOMAS” in greenish blue.

Entire sent from St. Thomas to New York 1862, charged 5 cents stamped with 1-ring “5”.

Dated St. Croix 10 March 1837 to Toronto, Upper Canada. Transit “NEW-YORK / APL / 8” and red straight line “SHIP” in red struck on front and carried to exchange point Queenston north of Niagara Falls, NY and struck “QUEENSTON AP 14 1837” in greenish blue ink. Charged “27” cents in red ink, with 2¢ ship charge and 25¢ US charge, total 27US¢ due = Canadian 1/4½ shilling, plus 7d Canadian charge = 1/11½ Canadian due by addressee. From the content a mention of local mail coach service. The brig arrived in Bassin yesterday & the letters due brought over by the stage coach today, you must know that we have a regular stage every day between the two towns.

Privately conveyed entire St. Croix 26 June 1816 to Copenhagen, Denmark. British Packet’s resumed service from St. Thomas in early 1817, this letter sent with Mm. Mothy and endorsed ‘Mm. Mothy’. She was accompanying three children back to Denmark onboard of the ship ‘Europa’ under the command of Capt. Bödker. Any letter’s from DWI to Denmark prior to 1840’ies is almost unrecorded.

Unpaid letter sent from Christiansted 28 April 1856 to Copenhagen, Denmark. Canceelled ANT1 “CHRISTIANSTED 28/4 1856” alongside ANT1 “ST. THOMAS 29/4 1856” struck in blue ink. Charged manuscript “51/9” on reverse, total “60” Skilling due by the addressee noted on face, with 9 sk. Danish share, 51 foreign share = “16” Schilling Courant” = “12” Silver Groschen, of which the British share is “10” pence = 9 Silver Groschen, leaving German share with 3 Silver Groschen (12 less 9).

Prepaid entire from Copenhagen 23 June 1850 to Frederiksted, Danish West Indies. Paid 79 sk. in cash and noted ‘8’ top middle for 8 sk. late delivery fee between 1-2 hours after closing hours at the Copenhagen post office. British postage share 1/4d, London transit mark on front.

Prepaid envelope from Haderslev 18 January 1863 to Christiansted, Danish West Indies. Paid 48 sk. with 39/9 sk. foreign/Danish share of the postage. Hamburg transit, London transit and Christiansted date stamps on front, and red crayon ‘4’ cents for local delivery in DWI.

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'.

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.

Letter sheet stamped “ST THOMAS / Aug 2 / 1813” British fleuron mark, sent to London and backstamped circled “D / 9 SE 9 / 13”. Charged 2/2. Single packet letter rate 1/2 (1813-37), to London 1/ (Falmouth-London 1812-39, 200-300 miles), total rate charged 2/2.

Letter sent from St. Thomas to New York, stamped with red “ST. THOMAS - OFFICE - EXPRESS” in red, dated 8 February 1864.

Entire letter sheet dated St. Croix 24 October 1819 to Armagh, Ireland. Charged 1/1 and stamped BELLMULLET on arrival, scarce landing location on mail from Danish West Indies.