1948-1949 Foreign Postal Links

Doar Ivri major discovery - 20 mils 1st printing on 'medium white' paper: as air mail postage on 23 March 1949 postmarked real photograph postcard (Ben Yehuda street in TEL AVIV) sent to FLORENCE Italy & tied by TEL AVIV-49 postmark; backstamped by Italian numbered sorting mark. Although the message only bears 3 words, there was no discounted airmail printed matter postcard rate at this time, ...

Major Doar Ivri discovery - 20 mils on DARK CREAM paper: 2x 20m Doar Ivri singles on undocumented dark cream paper of "medium white" type as 40 mils franking for 20m air mail postage affixed to 9 June 1949 postmarked real photograph postcard (YMCA building in Jerusalem) airmail cover sent from JERUSALEM to BUCHAREST Romania, tied by full strike of JERUSALEM-16 postmark; backstamped 14 June arrival...

Rare 20 mils Doar Ivri booklet stamp comprising part of 65m postage on 30 Sept 1949 postmarked air mail cover sent from TEL AVIV to NEW YORK; additional franks are complete series of 1949 IDF Insignia stamps (Ba #18-20) on their 11th day of use, all tied by 3x strikes of TEL AVIV-40 postmark. Stamp booklets of the Doar Ivri issue entered use on 9 Sept., here a stamp from one of the 3 very rare sta...

1948 Egyptian seizure of Soviet mail to Jews in Palestine: 1 April 1948 postmarked surface mailed cover from ODESSA to HAIFA, franked 60 kop for the period 50 kop surface letter rate & tied by local postmark: this cover was mailed a week after Britain suspended surface mail to Palestine, on 25 March; here as not marked by British "no service" or "Return to Sender" instructional markings, possibly ...

1948 Egyptian seizure of mail to Jews in Palestine: 22 April 1948 postmarked surface mailed cover from British Zone of WEST BERLIN to HAIFA, franked 50Pf & tied by local postmark + opened/resealed by the British censor in Germany: this cover was mailed about a month after Britain suspended surface mail to Palestine (Germany's usual route); here as not marked by British "no service" or "Return to S...

1948 Egyptian seizure of mail to Israel: 24 APR 1948 airmail cover from BASEL to HAIFA, franked 70c & tied by strike of local postmark; dispatched 2 days before all airmail to Palestine got returned due to service suspensions: here transported via CAIRO, where since early April mail to Jews in Palestine was seized, censored & returned to sender, as done here - opened/resealed using K-type-A censor...

1st outbound Israeli sea mail + 1st sea mail to USA: 23 May 1948 postmarked surface mailed cover, sent from KIRYAT MOTZKIN (return addressed KIRYAT BIALIK) to NEW YORK, franked 20m per SU-1 period postage rate & tied by reintroduced Mandate local postmark - this rare on overseas mail; opened gently at back.Important postal history: sea mail to the United States was suspended on 25 March 1948 and r...

Early Israeli sea mail + Mandate postmarking: 27 May 1948 postmarked cover sent from NETANYA to (West) BERLIN, franked 20 mils per the SU-1 period surface mail postage rate using 5m & 15m Doar Ivri stamps (the 15m frank's vertical perforations are inset, indicating this was originally a double-perforated stamp detached along the duplicate perforation), tied single strike of reintroduced Mandate NA...

Early Israel surface postcard to France + late fee: 21 June 1948 postmarked colorized real photograph postcard (London Square in Tel Aviv) sent from HAIFA to LILLE France, franked 15 mils for the 13 mils surface postcard postage rate + 2m late fee using a 10m & 5m single stamps, tied by a full strike of the head post office postmark (late fees could only be paid at the head post office). The postc...

Early Polish air links: 23 June 1948 registered air mail cover from WARSAW to TEL AVIV "Palestine", franked 105zl & tied by 4 strikes of the WARSAW-10 postmark; backstamped 1 July 1948 TEL AVIV 3 (registry division) arrival. Airmail service from Poland was suspended around 25-27 April, and resumed around 9-11 June with the first mail from Israel to Poland being carried by Air France on the 11th. H...

Earliest airmail postcard to US after resumption of postal relations: 1 July 1948 postmarked photographic postcard (Kingsway in Haifa) with family correspondence dated 29 June, sent from HAIFA to NORFOLK Virginia USA & franked 35 mils for the airmail postage rate, tied by single strike of the head post office postmark. Postal relations between the US and Israel were formally established on Tuesday...

Early US-Israel airmail: 2 July 1948 airmail cover from New York to "Haaretz" newspaper TEL AVIV "Palestine" (replaced by "Israel" in manuscript), meter-franked 25c per period airmail letter rate (service for commercial papers, printed-matter & samples only available from 16 Aug.): commencement of US-Israel airmail began 26 June (officially announced on the 29th), so this early airmail. Slit open ...

Early Israeli airlink with late fee: 16 July 1948 postmarked air mail cover, sent from TEL AVIV to business in PARIS, franked 38 mils for the 35m airmail fee to France (rates to Europe were not uniform at this time) + 3m extra for the 2m late fee (there was no 2m denominated stamp), for the late submission of mail after normal hours & paid using 4 color Doar Ivri franking, tied by 4 strikes of the...

Early era air mail from Poland: 16 July 1948 postmarked registered airmail cover, sent from PLOCK Poland to TEL AVIV, franked 105 Zl & tied by multiple strikes of the local postmark; backstamped next day WARSAW transit & [Thursday] 22 July TEL AVIV arrival; slit open at bottom. Likely carried on Air France which arrived in HAIFA on Mondays and Thursdays (KLM serviced Haifa on Sundays and Wednesday...

1948 Doar Ivri 2 Mils Late Fee cover: 19 July 1948 postmarked air mail cover sent from HAIFA to ZURICH Switzerland, franked 43 mils for the 40m airmail base postage rate + 3m (10x11 perf) for the 2m late fee for the late submission of the letter after regular hours (the lowest denomination of the Doar Ivri issue was 3 mils) & tied by 3x strikes of the head post office postmark; as per the dock...

Very early French air mail to Israel: 26 July 1948 postmarked large registered air mail cover sent from PARIS to TEL AVIV, franked 193 Francs & tied by 3x strikes of the local postmark; carried by Air France to HAIFA as the Tel Aviv airport had been aerial bombed in May and closed to civil aviation - backstamped 29 July HAIFA transit-arrival & next day TEL AVIV-3 (registry division) arrival. Surpr...

Early Israel airmail links with Sweden: 10 August 1948 postmarked commercial cover sent from TEL AVIV to STOCKHOLM, franked 40 mils per the base postage rate & tied by single strike of the TEL AVIV- postmark; opened at back. Air mail service with Sweden resumed on 23 June 1948, so here an early period cover....

Major Doar Ivri discovery - 5 mils on PINK paper: vertical pair of 5 mils Doar Ivri on undocumented pink paper as part of 40 mils franking as postage on 12 Sept 1948 postmarked airmail cover sent from HAIFA to MONTE CARLO Monaco, tied by 2x strikes of HAIFA-2 postmark; red crayon sorting number on front. Slit open at top. This is the first cover sent to Monaco seen by this cataloguer and bears an ...

Very early (incoming mail) postal censorship: 20 Aug 1948 postmarked airmail cover sent from NEW YORK to HAIFA "Palestine", franked 25c per period overseas letter rate; [torn] opened at back & sealed with Haifa censor's cream & blue Israeli "Army Censor" label 1005 and tied by "Chet-25" (Haifa) censor cachet (unusual design - fonts/spacing, different from the period types usually seen) + backstamp...

Late Fee with Full tabbed 65 mils News Years/Flying Scroll stamp affixed to 11 Oct 1948 postmarked airmail cover sent from TEL AVIV to BERN Switzerland, serving as franking for the FA-1 period 40m postage rate + 5m late fee (per the DO-2 period postage rate, newly raised from 2m as of 1 Oct.), with 20m overpaid & tied by single strike of Daled shift (late shift) index lettered TEL AVIV-29 postmark...

Triple weight airmail in FA-2 period: 18 Nov 1948 postmarked commercial air mail cover sent from TEL AVIV to NEW YORK, franked 210m for 3x weight at the period 70m letter rate, using 4x 50m + 1x 10m Doar Ivri stamps, tied by 3x strikes of the TEL AVIV-28 postmark; slit open at top. The FA-2 period postage rates came into effect on 1 Nov....

Early 1948 era [air] mail to Beersheva - rare combination: 4 Dec 1948 postmarked registered airmail cover sent from tiny locale TITISEE Germany (return addressed tiny locale ELTERS in American occupation zone) to a Michael Turk in Beersheva "Palestine", likely franked 1.20 DM for the period postage rate (30pf letter + 50pf non-Europe airmail + 40pf registry fee) - but some stamps fell off already ...

Early Israeli postal links: 7 DEC [unclear] airmail cover from TRIPOLITANIA to TEL AVIV, franked 30L using 3x BMA Tripolitania 10 MAL overprinted 5d stamps (Sa-7) & tied by 2 strikes of local date-bridge postmark, cover marked "A.V.2" (M-type-14) using local instructional marking handstamp - used on 'top of pile' cover of small batch of airmail, grouped together with other batches intended for dif...

Early Israeli telegrams: 16 Dec 1948 transmitted telegram sent from ISTANBUL Turkey to TEL AVIV, with ticker-tape pasted to telegram form; tied 17 Dec receipt using Mandate era Cable & Wireless handstamp & stamped by the Tav 10 military censor in Tel Aviv...