Foreign Post Offices

Holy Land French post office pre-philatelic / pre-franked double weight mail to Ireland: 10 April 1857 postmarked stampless cover sent from the French post office in JAFFA to FOULKESMILL Wexford (Ireland "England"), tied by pearl ringed JAFFA SYRIE postmark (Ba #304) & charged "1/6" (1 Shilling + 6 pence = 18 pence) in manuscript on arrival.As of 1840 postage rates to/from any part of the United K...

Palestine Forerunners - the French Holyland Post: 3rd pre-UPU period OCT 1874 folded commercial letter (dated 28 Oct) from JERUSALEM to COGNAC France, franked 80c at the 1871-76 5th postage rate period's letter rate using French Ceres stamp; although a French-run postal agency existed in JERUSALEM (under the Damiani family), here letter transmitted by non-affiliated forwarding agent "W. Duisberg" ...

Undocumented violet oval cachet of the ship LLOYD AUSTRIACO PIROSCAFO EUTERPE (Steamer 'Euterpe') tied to 10 Para overprinted imprinted 5 Heller frank on front of 1900 edition prepaid wrapper of the Austrian Holy Land post office (Ba #151); undated; addressed to addressee in KARLSRUHE Germany & tied by carmine illustrated return-address handstamp of Reinhold Aberle of JERUSALEM.The sender is docum...

Taxed French post office Holyland mail + discovery: 27 Aug 1906 postmarked picture postcard (Jerusalem - Mosque of Omar; Hermann Striemann) with 25 Aug. dated message numbering 5 words, sent from JERUSALEM to DRESDEN Germany & franked 5c for the printed matter rate (as bearing 5 words or less); likely deposited into a letter box and subsequently postmarked - but also marked for postage dues wi...

Hall & Company Jaffa forwarding agents via German Holy Land post office: 1907 era postmarked picture postcard (Jerusalem - Dome of the Rock interior), sent from JAFFA to addressee at hotel in BRIGHTON (Britain); the franking is missing but as the postcard bears a message longer than 5 words (on front) the rate was likely overseas postcard at 20 para, here tied by the local German post office postm...

German Holy Land post office + forwarding agent: unlisted ALBERT R. MIZRAHI | JERUSALEM PALESTINE light green oval cachet hand dated 24/6/10 in red pen, tied to picture postcard (Bedouin from Jericho) manuscript endorsed "Imprime" (printed matter) on top back in black pen, addressed to VEVEY Switzerland + further manuscript marked in red ink "3/4" & "verso" (turn over) in corner area for the posta...

Holyland Palestine Austrian Post domestic taxed mail: 20 May 1914 postmarked printed matter cover on imprinted postal stationary of the Social Democratic Workers Party ('Poalei Zion'), sent from JAFFA to JERUSALEM; endorsed with red handstamp as "printed matter" but posted unfranked (likely entered that way into a letter box and postmarked later, rather than refused upon presentation at the public...

Rare - free mail postal concession of the German Holy Land post office: 3 June 1914 postmarked stampless cover sent locally within JAFFA, addressed in German to a Mr. Harari ("herrn Harari") at the English Girl's School ("Engl. Madschenschule"); backflap missing.A rare example of civilian free mail - not stampless "official mail" - offered by the German post office: this is as yet an undocumented ...

EXTRAORDINARY WWI postal link - Austria-Hungary via British Censor to Ottoman Palestine (Central Powers mail facilitated by Britain): 24 Sept 1914 postmarked uprated postal card (stamp missing) bearing message in Hebrew-written Yiddish, sent from BUDAPEST to JERUSALEM & tied by local machine cancel (with offset imprint on reverse); subsequently tied by boxed violet handstamp FORWARED BY BRITISH CE...

WWI enemy mail transited by the Allies: 2 Oct 1916 postmarked cover sent from JERUSALEM to NEW YORK, franked 1.10 Piastre per period 20g letter rate abroad using 2x 1915 1st series war overprinted stamps & tied by JERUSALEM-2 octogonal postmark; the cover may have been sent northwards by rail where subsequently tied by BEIRUT star & crescent censor handstamp. As of 5 Nov. 1914 Britain and Turkey w...

WWI German military post: 29-12-1917 large registered cover from Deutche Feldpost 663 (unit located in NAZARETH since 9 Dec) to DAMAS (Damascus), unfranked as military mail and tied by postmark Ba M-14/FPOP 281 + very rare registry-label Ba R-40-7 of unit 663 & hand-marked "einschreiben"; received by postal service of the Fuel Storage Depot of Army Group F & backstamped twice 'Brief-Stempel Stokra...

WWI Austro-Hungarian military mail in Palestine via the German military post in Syria: Jan. 1918 era stampless registered cover sent from Austrian "Liquidierender Rechnungsführer der | k. u. k. Gebirgshaubitzdivision i. d. Türkei" (Paymaster of the Austrian Mountain Howitzer Division) in Palestine to War Ministry, VIENNA; unfranked as military mail - handstamped "einschreiben" and "Portofreie Di...

WWI Austrian military post with Turkish civilian mail routing: 13(?) Feb. 1918 postmarked photo picture postcard of Absalom's Tomb in Jerusalem, published by Yaakov Bentov (Bezalel) publishers of Jerusalem, with message in Hungarian dated 6 Feb., sent by sender in the Austro-Hungarian Sanitation Service in Syria from DAMASCUS to locale in HUNGARY (unclear): originally posted stampless & tied b...