Postage Stamp Chat Board & Stamp Bulletin Board Forum
 

I wanted to show this cover on stampboards, but was not sure what question to ask about it,

So I thought I would just start a thread on covers not delivered, and see what else was out there.

Does anyone have any information on when mail stopped getting through to Finland?

Would this cover be purely Philatelic?

Do you think that the sender have know well in advance that this cover would be returned to sender?
.

I have a few loaded up on my rarity page right now.

http://www.glenstephens.com/rarity.html

Australia Spectacular KGV "OHMS" unclaimed Registered War-time covers 1915-1917: I can't imagine you can have many more facial instructional markings than on this trio. The massive "PERTH" Red Registered labels, then a 1d Red block of 4, and 2 x joined strips of 4 perf "OS" (unusual even OFF cover!)

One strip with strong compartment lines on all units. And a host of other instructional markings, as the addressees could not be found. One still with original official contents.

All have dated violet "D.L.O. PERTH" cancels and other transit and return marks on face and/or reverse. And all kinds of additional instructional marks.

"NOT KNOWN BY LETTER CARRIER", "UNKNOWN BY LETTER CARRIER" a dated "CALLED L.C.R." handstamp, "SECOND NOTICE", "ADVISED TO CALL G.P.O." and 2 different "UNCLAIMED" handstamps.
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A: not to hand, but it would have been an effect of the war, that prevented mail getting through.

Yes, philatelic as overpriced even registered.

Possibly, although the address looks OK.
.

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Ian Billings - Norvic Philatelics GB stamps info: http://www.norphil.co.uk - also /catalog for our ecommerce site, blog.norphil.co.uk, shop.norphil.co.uk and Ian_norvic on twitter

Glen, those are a great trio of covers

Norvic, Yes as you say "an effect of the war", I guess i was not very clear in my original post.

I know that Finland was at war with Russia from November 30th 1939 until 12 March 1940.

The cover is dated the 6th of May 1940, The Battle of France started on the 10th of May with the cover being marked by the returned letter office on the 14th of May.

So would the Finland service have been "re-established" by the 6th, and the the letter returned because of the battle of France? or would the service to Finland not been "re-established" by the 6th?

This one had travelled around. I originally thought that examiner 5A handstamps at the Sydney Dead Letter office were reserved for incoming overseas mail only, but I now think that examiner handstamp was used specifically where no post town was put into the address. Anyone have ideas?

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This one opened out and worse for wear also did the rounds. Again no post town and examiner 5A handstamp at the DLO.

Parryone,

I wonder if it was because it was addressed to a Herr. H Smeds? I would be interested in knowing if the service to Finland resumed at all, as Germany supported Finland against Russia, and were probably not too popular with Britain at this time.

Ewen

Yes Ewen , I had thought about that, as it was only about a year later (25th June 1941)that Finland joined Germany in its attack on Russia.

Markrm, Thanks for sharing those great covers, they really put mine in the shade, sorry i can't shed any light on that examiner handstamp.

Canada to South Africa and back, about a 2 month trip.

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#1 traders rule - lose your opinion, instead of your money!

Underpaid, Undelivered and No return address



Cover sent from Fulham, S W London to Dorchester and franked with a half-penny stamp. Cancelled at Fulham with their CDS on the 14 May 1910.

On arrival at Dorchester it was marked with the 1d postage due mark (illustrated below) The Dorchester recieving mark is also for the 14 May on the reverse.



Attempts must have been made to deliver the letter, which failed, and the item was again marked at Dorchester on the 25 May, but as there was no return address on the envelope, the letter was sent to the 'Returned Letter Branch'

On arrival at the RLB, the letter needed to be opened to see if there was a return address. To show this had been opened officially, the 'RLB / OPENED AGAINST / INSPECTION' boxed mark was applied (bottom left)



The letter would then be returned to the sender in a covering envelope, thus there are no other return markings.
.

Great cover Traderpaul, The cds MAFEKING fires up the imagination.

tallanent, now that is a cover with character, and a story to tell , told to boot, well done

Parryone The FDC is addressed to a company called Tikkakoski. A web-search came up with the information that it was a machine-gun manufacturer and general ammunition supplier! So one wonders why Mr. Pinnell was writing to an Axis power arms dealer

Well from the markings on the envelope it doesn't look like the letter even got out of the UK, it was posted 6th May and made it back to the sender by 15th May. And it only looks like there are British cancellations on the envelope.

However, the letter wasn't addressed to a German employee. Smeds is a Swedish name and Herr means Mister in Swedish as well as German. The population of Finland is about 5-10% Swedish, so Herr Smeds was just a Swedish speaking Finn.

Scott

Hamburg to Sierra Leone, 1899. Unfortunately the intended recipient had died. A boxed Décédé. / Deceased. handstamp was applied, then the item was returned to Germany. On reaching Hamburg it was opened to ascertain the return address, then resealed and stamped Zurück (return) and Unbestellbar (addressee unknown).





Phil

Starling, Thanks for that wonderful info. I had not even thought that Tikkakoski was a company
name, it never ceases to amaze me, the quality of information that stampboarders can ferret out.

flip138, Nice cover you have there, in these days of instant communication, its hard to believe that
the first indication you may have received that a friend had passed away would be when you got your mail back, with the word "deceased" stamped on it.

Here's a "pointing finger" returned to sender cachet on a AAMC 161.

This was the ANA first service of the "Southern Moon" VH-UMI Melbourne to Sydney on 1/6/30. Pilots were T.W. Shortridge and G. Henry:



And the rear:

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Tony

Great cover there Lakatoi 4, it really set my mind racing,
What was going on here, G Anderson, sending this registered cover from Surrey Hills to The Sydney G.P.O., for (presumably) his wife Mrs H Gray - Anderson, with the instruction that it be returned if not claimed in two days.

What missive went astray here?
Ahh the fickle finger of fate, The cruel twist of bad economic times?, A loving couple separated by circumstance?, A love letter missed in transit?, Or perhaps an appeal to a wayward wife?, We will never know, but the mind just boggles with possibilities.

Either that, or it was just a collector trying to get themselves a nice philatelic cover.

Jason,I think the latter may be correct,

We had a memeber at Ringwood Club who used to send Reg Mail all over the world to non existant people and places,just to get them back with all and any postmarks etc on the covers,
His Name was Peter Horneman,
so if you ever come across any covers with his name as sender,you can bet they were all Philatelic, but he did have a great looking lot of covers,

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Nunawading Stamp Fair
Last Sunday of Every Month - Jaycees Hall Silver Grove - Nunawading.

Yes Mrboggler i seem to remember Philly doing something similar recently.
Remind me to ask him to bring in those covers he had his son post to him.

Nice topic!
I have many covers returned to sender from various periods for various reasons.
But I had set one aside which looked especially interesting and this thread made me bring it out and examine it. It's very interesting from first look but I am sure some members here can help bringing out the full truth with it.

It was posted from USSR Estonia, Tartu in February 20th, 1968 to Santo Domingo. It arrived in April 15th. Then there's "Pointing finger" and for some reason it's returned? Am I right to say it traveled aboard the ship and has ship cancel (Maritime)? Anyway it's sent back on April 19th and it arrives back in October 25th?? (25.10.68) SEVEN months? One helluva ride then!
I might be wrong here so any comments welcome!





Regards,
Toivo

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My blog on philately http://toivostamps.blogspot.com

Toivok, the handwrited comment "pointed" says:

devolver a expedidor, destinatario fallecido

what means:

return to sender, addressee deceased

Cheers!

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I collect any philatelic material related with my first name, Nicolás, and its correspondence in any language (Nicholas, Nikolai, Niccolo, Mikulas,...)

http://s364.photobucket.com/home/nico_jnk/allalbums

Ah, I see! Thanks! Haven't noticed such in my collection before. Several letters are returned because addressee has moved etc.

Regards

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My blog on philately http://toivostamps.blogspot.com

From the Dead Letter Office

Contents still intact, I can feel an envelope inside.......and yes I'm dieing to open it .



Skippy

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Collecting - Stamps, poster stamps and covers that feature Kangaroos.
Wanted: Illustrated Tourist cover of "Waratah Park", Sydney, NSW. Australia

Here's a First Day Cover that did a bit of a tour.

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Always on the lookout for Australian pre decimal First Day Covers.

Skippy, Pye, the addressee of the DLO cover, is a well know name in the Parramatta district. The family had a large orange orchard. There is a Pye Ave not far from my place and an old farmhouse type building and I think this was the orchard site.

I would carefully open the cover as the cover inside will have a Return to Sender marking and possibly other interesting postal markings.

Happy New Year, Davo

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Davo from Oz

Have you opened it yet Skippy? Waiting to see the letter inside.

Arlene

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AUSTRALIA 2013 EXHIBITION - 10 to 15 MAY 2013 - http://www.australia2013.com

Wow great covers all
ToivoK, I look at your cover and wonder just how the back stamp could possible have been so smudged when applied,
got to wonder what the clerk was doing
Skippy, go on, open it up you know you want to
The Pom now there is a FDC with character.
GJ50, Lovely covers, are they part of something you have exhibited?
Is there a reason for the blue crayon on the back of the 2nd cover?

Thanks for the local info Davo
I have quite a few covers addressed to L.T.Pye, he was a Chemist in the district (but may be related to the orchardists you mention too ?) and many of his letters and accounts bounced back. Either because the addresses were bogus or the account holders had moved house.

I'm guessing this cover will have an "account payment due" or reminder in it.


Happy new year to you too

Skippy

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Collecting - Stamps, poster stamps and covers that feature Kangaroos.
Wanted: Illustrated Tourist cover of "Waratah Park", Sydney, NSW. Australia

Not yet arls and Parryone, but I will after the weekend when my relatives leave and I get 5mins to myself

A Hectic Xmas/New Year here

Hope everyone had a great Xmas break and Happy new year too

Cheers,
Skippy

forgot to add...

I've enjoyed seeing all the return to sender - undelivered covers in this thread.
Keep them coming
I have a few more to DLO covers to scan and post up too

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Collecting - Stamps, poster stamps and covers that feature Kangaroos.
Wanted: Illustrated Tourist cover of "Waratah Park", Sydney, NSW. Australia

_________________
AUSTRALIA 2013 EXHIBITION - 10 to 15 MAY 2013 - http://www.australia2013.com

Some early decimal DLO covers





Skippy

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Collecting - Stamps, poster stamps and covers that feature Kangaroos.
Wanted: Illustrated Tourist cover of "Waratah Park", Sydney, NSW. Australia

Arlene, as I was about to cut it along the top, I felt the side edge was already open !
I don't know why I didn't notice that before, it's even visible on the scan now that I look !! (bangs head on brick wall)

This one envelope was inside, but I don't know if it belongs there or was put in there later... or maybe originally there were several letters in there from the DLO all sent in the one registered envelope.



Skippy

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Collecting - Stamps, poster stamps and covers that feature Kangaroos.
Wanted: Illustrated Tourist cover of "Waratah Park", Sydney, NSW. Australia

the back of this cover, and AP DLO insert


Skippy

_________________

Collecting - Stamps, poster stamps and covers that feature Kangaroos.
Wanted: Illustrated Tourist cover of "Waratah Park", Sydney, NSW. Australia

Here's another "Return to Sender" cover - New York, Pennsylvania, USA being an obviously insufficient address!



There's something else a little unusual about this cover, but I'll leave that for you to figure out.

Phil

Hi Phil great cover, as to unusual, are you talking about the return to writer handstamp?

My one and only

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I AM ALWAYS IN THE MIDDLE
Post your KGV faults on the stampboard wiki.

Hi Parryone. Nice covers from yourself and Gutters too.

It isn't the handstamps that make the Anguilla cover a little unusual, but the postage stamp.

Anguilla unilaterally declared her independence from St Kitts in 1967. British troops were sent in to restore order (must have been a pleasant posting!). The Independent Anguilla stamps were only in use from 4 September 1967 until shortly after a replacement set was issued on 27 November 1967. As only limited quantities of the stamps were available for overprinting, no orders from the stamp trade were accepted. Also, very few mint stamps were sold; the postmaster put the stamps directly onto the mail. Only 2575 of the 25c value were sold, although the higher values are considerably scarcer than this.

Phil

I found this cover in a lot I recently bought. It made me think of this thread.
Philatelicly inspired, this cover originated in Regina, Saskatchewan; sent to Mexico via registered mail; Mexican stamps added and forwarded to Cuba; then returned back to Canada. It took about 6 months.

_________________
#1 traders rule - lose your opinion, instead of your money!

Here is my offering.




Andrew

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The preview button is my friend.

This cover is an interesting one... sent from the Royal Edward Victualling Yard, Pyrmont 21 March 1934 to Pitt Street, Sydney and returned unknown.

It has a number of interesting markings -
a poor "Unknown (either to or by postmen) Pitt Street",
a CDS "Called Postmen's Section" in red;
the pointing finger "return to sender" in purple;
and in red a boxed
"Royal Edward Victualling Yard
No
26 Mar 1934" receiving notation back at the point of posting.

It also has a purple "Unknown at Address (5)" which is an earlier date of use than reported in Orchard and Tobin.

For those interested I have added information on the Victualling Yard below.


Royal Edward Victualling Yard Group, Darling Island Rd, Pyrmont, NSW, Australia
The Royal Edward Victualling Yard (REVY), dating from the early twentieth century, is historically significant for its lengthy associations with Australia's naval history. The establishment served Royal Navy vessels during the last years of British naval responsibility in Australian waters and subsequently served the Royal Australian Navy in peace and war for many decades. REVY also helps to reflect Pyrmont's historical role as a warehouse and wharfs precinct of Sydney.

In 1846, Quarry master Charles Saunders was contracted to level Darling Island and the Australasian Steam Navigation Company subsequently constructed and operated a large ship building and maintenance works. This company operated the largest of the New South Wales (NSW) coastal shipping fleets for a number of decades before being absorbed by overseas interests in the 1890s. The shipyard was sold in 1895, and then was acquired by the Government in 1896 as a site for the British Admiralty to hold naval stores. Buildings A and B were designed by NSW Government Architect W L Vernon for the British Admiralty for its Australia Station requirements and erected between 1904 and 1907 by builders McLeod Brothers. As the Royal Edward Victualling Yard (REVY), the complex was the first Royal Yard in the southern hemisphere. Its construction reflected both Australia's need for British naval forces and Britain's need for Australian stores, production and storage. Naval stores had previously been held at Garden Island and were transferred from Garden Island in 1907. The yard was occupied by the Royal Navy until 1913 when it was taken over by the Royal Australian Navy (formed 1911).

These buildings were specifically designed as a storehouse for foodstuffs, cloth, clothing and equipment, to be loaded onboard ships moored at the adjacent wharf. They were fitted with a range of lifting and handling equipment as part of the design and were early electrified goods handling buildings; as well they were among the first stores buildings to be fitted with a sprinkler system.

During the 1990s the buildings were converted for office uses by Naval Support Command. Building C was designed by Vernon (the NSW Public Works Department was commissioned by the newly formed Commonwealth Government to build it) and it was built between 1908-12. It too had electric powered goods lifting equipment. Initially it housed stores of the Postmaster General's Department and the Military Stores, though during World War One the military use of the building expanded greatly. In 1923 it was handed over to the Royal Australian Navy and it held naval stores including food and clothing etc. All three buildings thus were associated with Australian naval operations in peace and war during the twentieth century and REVY was the RAN's biggest victualling yard. Building C was converted from stores use in the 1980s for occupation by the Department of Defence, Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO). Changes in stores handling brought about by containerisation and the move of naval storage away from the waterfront ushered in the changed use of the buildings.

Here's a modern one.

Sent 30/10/06 in an Airmail envelope to the Vermont PO, St Vincent and The Grenadines - admittedly an unusual address.

Correctly franked and clearly addressed.

Received at the Vermont PO in Victoria on 2/11/06.

Returned to me on 6/12/06 as "Unclaimed" - I wonder why??.





Resent in another Airmail letter to the same address on 11/12/06 and received a few weeks later.

As the cover is recent, I have removed the Addressee's name and the return details.

Cheers

Bill

Dead Letter Office.... AAMC 165

I have 40 covers from this WAA flight and these are the only 3 not delivered.

BACK O' BOURKE,

Hording is the first sign of old age. You should sell at least one of those cover to me

Just kidding. They look great.

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-=
http://www.bluelineapiary.com/

This was sent to me by a company in the middle of December 2008 but I didn't receive it until it was hand delivered to me the middle of January this year.

It's absolutely the first one of these I have ever received and it's totally incorrect as the exact delivery address was shown on the cover

I didn't think AP even had "the pointing finger" now

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Tony

As a PNG postal history collector I want to show a nice, quite modern, undelivered PNG cover.

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Wolfgang
Papua New Guinea stamps and postal history: http://www.i-ng.org

Via Dead Letter Office. Melbourne 1st. July 1940

From 79 Harp Road East Kew, Victoria (currently the private address of an entertainer - wedding receptions?) 20th. June 1940

Addressed to Mrs. L Kenyon, Amess Street North Carlton (my brother-in-law's mother or grandmother)

KGVI 2d Red (I'm no expert on detailed descriptions)

Red Pointing Finger and pencil line crossing out the address.

On the reverse, "Returned To Sender" label; "Left Address 20th. June" in pencil; Carlton North cds June 1940; Dead Letter Office cds 1st. July 1940

Curiously, the letter must have reached its destination finally as I found the cover at 238 Amess Street North Carlton whilst helping clear out the house.

Most of the following covers were sent by me to potential overseas customers in the automotive aftermarket industry. Unopened and still contain a letter and brochure.

From United Arab Emirates to The Basin Victoria

Dated 10th. March 1992 with a $1.05 Coral Sea Battle 1942 stamp.

Front: $1.05 pencil note; red ballpoint pen cancellation; "UNCLAIMED and Arabic" stamped in violet.

Reverse: Not shown. Just the sender's address. No other markings

Returned from Italy to Australia

Originally posted 24th. August 1994 with $1.35 Emu stamp.

Front: Blue pen address cancellation; red pen "Insufficient address" and initials for Postal Officer Number 44 - I presume.

Reverse: Sender details and pen inscription which I cannot decipher.

I don't know where this one was returned from as the "Return To Sender" label covers the address.

Overseas somewhere because of the three 45 cent Kangaroo stamps ($1.35)

Posted 24th. August 1994

Return label dated 30th. August 1994 - "Gone Away".

At a guess an English-speaking country as only English and French shown on the label.

The reverse of the cover only showed Sender Address.

Has anyone seen a similar "Return To Sender" perforated label number P4424?

Returned from Austria to Australia

Posted 23rd. August 1994.

Three x 45 cent Floral stamps - "Thinking of you"; "Love"

Blue pen cancellation and "gelöscht" (cancelled)