1945 SPLIT, Letter to NY

Censorship in Yugoslavia was officially ended on July 2, 1945. However, it was still carried out for shipments to or from abroad ...

Registered letter, sent from Dubrovnik (20.VII.45) to New York (9-17 / 1945) via Naples (22.8.45), correctly franked with 9 Din (foreign tariff valid from 10 May 1945: 4 Din for letter + 5 Din for the registration). Censored in Dubrovnik (CENZURIRANO / Br. 10) and Naples (MILITARY CENSORSHIP / 0146 / CIVIL MAILS).

Cancellations on the back: NAPOLI FERROVIA / 22.8.45 / ESTERO, NEW YORK, N.Y. / 9 - 17 / 1945 / REG'Y. DIV. and ??? / SEP / 18 / 1945 / REGISTERED. Note that Allied Censorship in Naples still uses old Italian censorship labels.

8.1M EUR for 1847 Mauritius cover

Just sold at Gartner’s auction for € 8,100,000 plus commission...

1847 Mauritius "Post Office" issue, one penny red-orange on the cover (SE 27 1847).

1945 MARIBOR, Unopened letter

It does not often happen that you find a 76-year-old unopened letter, a really nice surprise. Although I am tempted to open it and read the content, it will remain unopened...

1945 Maribor provisional issue, letter sent from Kranj (4.VII.45) to Jesenice, correctly franked with 12 pf. Unopened with original, 76 years old, content.

1945 SPLIT, Small Petar No. 2

Only five “Small Peter” stationery that travelled are known. So I am happy to have found another one for my collection ...

1945 Split provisional issue, "Small Petar" stationery, sent from Sinj (20.VI.45) to Split. Censor cancellation No. 17, Sinj. Extremely rare item. Certificate Marinšek.

1945 ZAGREB, The earliest known mail

Zagreb was liberated on 8th May 1945. The Communists immediately closed all post offices and suspended postal traffic. No official documents are known regarding the operation of the post office at that time and nothing is known about the date of the re-establishment of postal services...

Forerunner of the 1945 Zagreb provisional issue, picture postcard sent from Zagreb 2 (1.VI.1945) to military position, free of charge as the recipient was a military person. Rare censor cancellation CENZUR-ZAGREB. 1st of Jun 1945 is the earliest known date for a shipment after the Communists took power and suspended all postal traffic.

Online meeting

We had an interesting zoom meeting yesterday. Three different topics, among which I was personally most interested in the presentation of the Wiki website https://worldstampsproject.org.

Participants

1944 DB Laibach, Chemical censoring

During WWII, all mail was censored. Censors read entire messages and censored prohibited content. One way of secret communication was to use invisible ink (also known as covert ink, sympathetic ink and white ink). However, this was dangerous because about 3% of all checks held a chemical test.

Registered letter, franked with 2.50 Lit, sent from Laibach =Ljubljana (28.VIII.44) to Franz Steierm =Vransko Štajerska (20.9.44), censored by OKW Vienna*. Chemical censoring was applied on the back.

*OKW codes and offices

a - Koenigsberg --- Baltic States, USSR

b - Berlin --- Airmail transit – N. & S. America

c - Cologne --- Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, N. France

d - Munich --- Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Vatican

e - Frankfurt --- S. France, Switzerland, N. & S. America

f - Hamburg --- Scandinavia

g - Vienna --- Balkans, Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece

h - Berlin --- (special for P.O.W. mail in late 1944)

k - Copenhagen --- Sweden, Norway, Finland

l - Lyon --- S. France

n - Nancy --- S. France, Spain, Portugal

o - Oslo --- Sweden, Finland, Denmark

t - Trondheim --- Norway to Sweden and Finland

x - Paris --- Red Cross mail, France

y - Bordeaux --- SW. France