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Early WWI German military mail in Palestine: 20 VI 1916 stampless color picture postcard of Jerusalem, published by Vester, with German message marked as 'Fieldpost', sent from JERUSALEM to WURTTEMBURG Germany; tied by very rare violet 3-line German text handstamp "BEVOLLMÄCHTIGTER des I. EXPEDITIONSKORPS für deutsche und oesterr. -ungar. Heeres angehörige in Jerusalem" ('Plenipoten...

Airmail to ship: 1 SEP 1935 postmarked uprated air mail Mandate postal card with message in German dated same day in Haifa, from HAIFA to a passenger on the SS Mariette Pacha paquebot of the French Messageries Maritime transport company (referenced in the address), in MARSEILLE; franked 10m using a combination of the pre-printed frank + pictorals, at the period Imperial Airways postcard rate to Fr...

Privately couriered mail: cover from HAIFA to RISHON LE ZION franked 10m per domestic letter rate & tied by 27 JUN 1947 (1 PM) dated Sacher F5a machine cancel. Of interest is the business cachet on back for "Zariz/Saris" ('Zariz' in Hebrew means "quick" or "agile"), applied after sealing the envelope: the Palestine Gazette (#1516 of 15/08/46, p.778) mentions a "Saris Transport Service" company in ...

Late Fee on World War II mail: 20 Sept 1939 postmarked air mail cover from sender at Palestine Railways HAIFA to STURMINSTER NEWTON (UK), endorsed "via KLM" & franked 30 mils reflecting the new postage rate, in effect since 17 Sept., using 2x 5m + 2x 10m stamps for the postage + 2m single for the regular-mail late fee - this was paid as it was posted with less than 15 minutes left to the 13:00 dis...

WWII 60m Imperial Airways/BOAC air mail rate (via Horseshoe Route) applied to 22 JULY 1940 postmarked cover from TEL AVIV to LONDON, franked using 10m & 50m Pictorial singles & tied by single strike of the local postmark; opened & resealed by censor 70/7333 using PC 22 light green tape & tied by mute boxed handstamp. The all-air 10g 60m Imperial Airways rate came into effect on 17 Sept. 1939, and ...

The WWII 125 mils air mail postage rate applied to 4 Dec 1940 postmarked airmail stationary cover, from TEL AVIV to BALTIMORE (USA), charged as per the July 1940 rate for 5g weight via the trans-Pacific route through Hong Kong & Singapore on BOAC and then by Pacific "Clipper" air service to the US (via the parallel Atlantic route, via the UK, the period fee was 150m), using 3-color Pictorials fran...

WWII 105m PanAm West Africa route to US: 6 JUNE 1943 postmarked registered air mail cover with "Clipper" endorsement from TEL AVIV to NEW YORK, under-franked 5 mils at 115m per period postage rate of 105m per 5g letter + 15m registration, using 100m & 15m Pictorials singles - but not taxed - and tied by 1x strike of REGISTERED TEL AVIV postmark + 2x on back (the dateline reads "JL" for JULY but th...

Unusual French VE-Day mail: 9 MAY 1945 Vichy-era postal card with French message from CASTRES to TEL AVIV, franked 2.40F pr period surface rate using mixed franking of pre-printed Petain 1.20f frank & French liberation period franks - untaxed/un-obliterated & rare as such since [collaborationist] Petain stamps were banned as of 1 November 1944 - ironic here as used on VE Day; tied by 2x cachets of...

EXTRAORDINARY WWII wartime postal link: 5 MAY 1940 express airmail cover orginally containing letter in German, on Palestinian "Doar" stationary from HAIFA to Jewish addressee Leo Lichtenstern THE HAGUE (Holland) & franked 45m per rare and short-lived period rate (1 May - 30 June 1940) using pair 20m + 5m single franks (20m express fee + 25m non-BOAC/Imperial Airlines rate to Europe) & tied by 2 s...

Holocaust-era mail via the Red Cross - the Slovak uprising: 31 JULY 1944 dated message in German on stampless Slovakian Red Cross contact form, sent from NOVE MESTO to addressee Avraham Talmi in JERUSALEM; the form bears the red circular cachet of the Slovakian Red Cross representative and the cachet of the GENEVA office which received the form - here it was date-stamped 22 August 1944, before pas...

Air mail from sea: 26 OCT 1946 cover on air mail stationary, sent by D. Tolkowsky on the ship S/S Gudrun at ISTANBUL (per return address) to female Ofra Bourla addressee in TEL AVIV - but posted as air mail from Greece (ATHENS?); slit open at left. Unusual postal link. The ship may have belonged to the Deutsche Levante-Linie/Transmarin shipping company. An unusual but familiar name in a locale kno...

Czechoslovakian airmail to Palestine: 22 AUG 1947 registered air mail cover from PRAGUE to addressee at childrens home ("meshek yeladim") at PARDESS HANNA, franked 21.80Kr per the period rate (8kr registry + 4kr basic overseas letter rate + 4x 2.40Kr additional weight) & tied by multiple strikes of the local postmark - an unusual combination of pre-WWII & post-WWII franks which were accepted for p...

Morocco - Jewish mail postal service: small commercial cover addressed to "Mr. Tayeb Mohamed Mekki", tied by blue octogonal negative seal handstamp belonging to the 56km long FEZ-MEKNES route, established by the Jewish Frenchman Messod Bensimon, a former headmaster of the Jewish Alliance School in Fez who later became a businessman, in January 1897. This route was one of 21 established by various ...

Manuscript franking on postwar/Holocaust mail: 16 JULY 1946 stampless cover from hospital ESCHWEILER in British Zone Germany to RAMAT GAN, franked 75pf with manuscript notation - this unusual & tied by full strike of local pmk; opened by British civilian censor & resealed; backstamped 1(?) SP 46 arrival; opened roughly at back, complete....

Late Mandate / Kofer HaYishuv mail: 21 APR 1948 commercial cover on "Doar" stationary from TEL AVIV to BNEI BRAK franked 10m per period letter rate using a Kofer HaYishuv label (Ba 133) instead of a Mandate frank, & tied by single strike of the local Mandate postmark - this rare, most such covers date from the interim period & after. Backstamped (unusually, as not a registered letter) 23 AP arriva...

Haifa British Fleet Mail abroad - to non-UK destination: 18 JUNE 1948 postmarked cover from Royal Navy ship HMS PHOEBE to private addressee in VIENNA, franked 5½d & tied by full strike of BFM 12 (HAIFA) postmark + 15 June 1948 dated COMMANDING OFFICER H.M.S. PHOEBE boxed handstamp; opened & sealed by the Austrian censor; slit open at top. Here, as not addressed to Haifa as much such mail was ...

The Legendary 20 Mils Registered Mail LATE FEE, applied to dateless MAY 1948 interim period registered commercial cover from TEL AVIV to RAMAT GAN, as part of 45m total franking composed of 10m letter rate + 15m registry fee + 20m late fee, using marginal block of 4x 10m Immigrant Ship (Ba #23) stamps + 5m Defense & Development (Ba #2) marginal single & tied by 2x strikes of local violet interim p...

1948 Israeli "no service" marks on mail TO ISRAEL: 12 AUG 1948 air mail commercial cover on business stationary from LONDON to business at post office box in JAFFA ("Palestine"), meter franked 6d; oddly the receiving Post Office in TEL AVIV rejected the cover - without highlighting any specific problem & marking the whole address area with 2-line former Mandate instructional marking handstamp "RET...

POSTAL HISTORY GEM - **1st Day ISRAEL 15 MAY 1948 overseas-bound mail** with Mandate & interim markings: 13 May 1948 postmarked Mandate Air Letter with handwritten letter in German dated the same day, sent from Ahuza neighborhood in HAIFA to LONDON; with imprinted 25 mils Mandate franking (the period rate for air mail to the UK) + refranked 23 mils (2m underfranking) using interim stamps, because ...

Rishon Le Zion 1948 semi-siege period incoming printed matter mail: 21 MAR 48 commercial cover from TEL AVIV to doctor in RISHON LE ZION, franked 3m per period printed matter rate using vertical ribbed Pictorals Ba #91 single tied by local postmark Sacher B60; back-flap unsealed as per printed matter regulations. Relatively late-dated Mandate era mail during the period of the termination of the Ma...

1948 besieged JERUSALEM interim mail: local commercial cover franked 10m at postage period rate using 2nd local issue (Ba105) tied by JERUSALEM Sorting Office rosette postmark & 18 MAY 1948 dater (date unclear but deformity of rosette inner ring, in use since 13 May, borne out by other mail of same date with same deformity). The sorting office's postmark likely used here as cover posted uncancell...

1948 South African "service suspended" mail to Palestine: 20 MAR 1948 surface mail commercial cover from JOHANNESBURG (no return address) to 'Haaretz' newspaper TEL AVIV, franked 3½d & tied by 2 strikes of local postmark; posted 11 days before South Africa suspended surface mail service to Palestine but still affected it (probably before official suspension date) & marked 2x on front by 2-lin...

Egyptian wartime postal boycott of Israel: 15 SEP 1948 airmail cover from EAST FINCHLEY (UK) to KFAR PINES (via KARKUR), franked 6d & tied by local machine cancel + same day LONDON F.S. ("Foreign Section") dispatch; as address didn't include country name, this [mis-] routed via EGYPT where censored - uniquely - in ALEXANDRIA (rather than Cairo) using K-Type3 ("Mim") handstamp, where country-name "...

1948 PEDI first flight mail - numbered 28: airmail stationary cover from BROOKLYN to TEL AVIV franked 25c regular airmail rate, postmarked MAY 21 1948 (1st day of PEDI service) using both Type I and II cancels, and bearing very low serial number, 28 (out of 1288 carried on 1st flight); with US "First Flight" & locally applied CSA cachets on front; this 1st flight arrived in Haifa 2 June; opened ro...