Covers (1920 to 1929)
Part 2 of the covers pages, covering the 1920s.
Basra 🠚 Baghdad, 19 October 1920
Dear George, How are you all? And why do you not write to me. In spite of 'Arab' troubles we are still alive & in good form. Love to all, Yours Ever, Arthur J. Treasure. Magil, Basra, 28/10/20
This is definitely something, though beyond that I've got rather little idea. We have, on the obverse, a 1½ anna postmarked with what appears to be a registration-label handstamp. On the reverse, the following postmarks: a Basra sub-office (Dorset Bridge? a terminal 'e' is just about visible), 19 October; Lower Baghdad delivery, 21 October; and what seems like another Dorset Bridge, almost entirely off the cover. On the reverse, additionally, is an entire message, dated 28 October at Magil, Basra. The recipient is a Major Arthur Treasure, offer in charge of the Navy and Army Canteen Board office in Baghdad.
What seems to have happened here is that Major Treasure, having received the envelope at Baghdad, took it with him to Magil, where he composed the message on the reverse. There's nothing to suggest that this second message passed through the mails, so I would assume he simply handed the letter to someone (a mobile army colleague, perhaps) capable of passing it onto "George."
The strangeness of the postmark on the obverse I cannot explain. My guess is that the regular Basra canceller must've been incapacitated, for whatever reason, and somebody decided to use the registration handstamp to replace it. This would explain the (otherwise unusual) Dorset Bridge postmarks: the cover was posted at Basra (the main office, I must assume?) and arrived (for whatever reason) at the Dorset Bridge office, whereupon someone noticed the irregular postmark and applied a "regular" one before it went out to Baghdad.
According to Proud, the inland rate for a basic-weight letter at this time was 1 anna, increasing in increments of 1 anna. This is franked as 1½ annas, as is the cover below. Are they both overpaid, or was there a rates increase missed by Proud?
The context here, of course, is the anti-British rebellion which had just been suppressed: the "Arab troubles" referred to in the message. Although the worst of it was over by mid-September, and it seems never to have troubled Baghdad too greatly, Proud offers some colourful descriptions of several alarums experienced by its inhabitants. The revolt doesn't seem to have come anywhere near to Basra, so Major Treasure must be referring to his experiences at Baghdad, or wherever else.
Mosul 🠚 Baghdad, 28 May 1921
Service stamps on cover aren't commonly encountered:* I try to pick them up on the few occasions I can actually find them up for sale, even if they're not necessarily extremely interesting. This item here is rather straightforward: an internal letter from Mosul to Baghdad, posted on the 28 May and arriving on the 2 June. Note that the stamps used are the regular occupation issue, despite this having been posted within the currency of the special Mosul issue: this prompts the question, which I hadn't ever considered prior to writing this very sentence, of what persons entitled to send official mail did in Mosul in this period — the Mosul issue was of course never overprinted for service use, so was the service version of the occupation issue just used without interruption? Answers on a postcard.
I'm unsure about the formalities required to send official mail at this early period: the familiar "official must sign at the bottom-left" procedure was possibly only introduced in 1925. The "No. 2292" at top-left is presumably an archival notation of some sort.
Postmarks: two Mosul postmarks dated 28 May 1921, and a Baghdad delivery mark dated 2 June.
Franking: 1½ annas, which I must assume is correct (see the cover directly above).
*They certainly feel disproportionately scarce compared to the relative availability of off-cover used service stamps. Couldn’t begin to guess why.
Baghdad 🠚 LONDON, 27 March 1924
Stained, folded and reduced at both ends, but I find it impossible to resist an oversized commercial cover. This was sent by a Mr David Reshdooni — I can find no details of this man but elsewhere I’ve seen a pre-printed cover addressed to him at Baghdad, so he was evidently “in business” in some way or other. There’s the stamp of some entity on the envelope flap (“The Mesopotamian … Corporation Ltd.”) although this has been effaced, perhaps to signal the letter is a private one. The addressee Gulbenkian company was, of course, profitably engaged in oil exploitation both in Iraq and elsewhere.
Postmarks: two “Baghdad H.O. Reg.” postmarks dated 27 March 1924. A mostly illegible London registered arrival mark in red ink on the flap, dated April.
Franking: 1 rupee 2 annas: the letter must have thus weighed between 41 and 60 grams as this gives us 6 annas postage, 9 annas Overland Mail Fee and 3 annas registration fee.
Baghdad 🠚 Balcombe, 4 september 1924
Fairly ratty condition but it’s a nice franking. Posted on 4 September 1924 (as best as I can make out) to one Flying Officer R. N. Haworth-Booth in Balcombe, Sussex. Haworth-Booth’s medals went up for sale in 2007, from which we learn that he was with the RAF in Iraq from 1921 to 1923. While there, he participated in aerial operations against the Kurds. The “Mill House” seems like an enormously picturesque set of buildings, incidentally. We have some kind of archival notation at the bottom-left, but no endorsement from whatever official was sending the letter.
Postmarks: two smudgy “Baghdad Al-Rashid” postmarks dated 4 September 1924.
Franking: 6 annas. 3 for basic-weight postage and another 3 for the Baghdad-Cairo air service.
Basra🠚 London, 5 February 1927
This was either the first or second cover I ever acquired in my entire life — my memory has negligently failed to record which of the two deserves this Olympian honour (3.III.1949 is the other contender). This is more likely the first, but I cannot be confident. Certainly, however, this was the first scan I ever took. 16 April 2013, per the metadata — I was spread out anxiously in the university library’s scanning room (full complement: one scanner), mostly trying to scan a BL manga I was then working on, so rather concerned not to be caught in the act. En passant, I’d also brought a few covers in case it was possible to do those as well. A couple times I had to hurriedly sweep everything back into the green manila folder I had used to smuggle them in (that detail I can unaccountably still remember) when some intruder needed to scan their degree or passport or whatever. I ceded the machine to them, in the interests of getting them gone as quickly as possible. Anyway this betrays poor technique, and is terribly washed-out, but I upload it as-is for the rather self-indulgent historical interest. Of interest to nobody but myself but, if I can’t go in for this kind of behaviour on my own website, then where?
Anyway, rather self-explanatory cover, the large and pleasingly clear handstamp being the main attraction.
Postmarks: just the one — Basra, 5 February 1927, 1st despatch.
Franking: 6 annas — 3 for basic-weight postage and then 3 for the airmail.
Baghdad 🠚 New York, 1 July 1927
Lovely clear postmarks. Sent by one Ezra Aboudi A. Haim of Baghdad to the American Exchange Irving Trust Company, an investment bank, in New York. Two months earlier they’d started construction on their dramatic art-deco headquarters.
Postmarks: All on reverse.
Two Baghdad Exchange Square Reg., 1 July 1927.
Baghdad Reg., 1 July 1927.
London registered arrival mark, 10 July 1927.
Two New York Registry Division arrival marks, 20 July 1927.
Two “New York N. Y. C. H. Sta. Reg.” marks, 20 July 1927.
Franking: 9 annas. 3 for basic-weight postage, 3 for registration, and 3 for airmail.
Baghdad 🠚 Hebden Bridge, 25 November 1927
Pleasant item despite a few disfigurements. The obverse is rather busy: we have the requisite official's signature and title at the bottom-left corner, but also an additional inscription at the top-left on which I cannot advise. I can read “cheque”, so presumably it’s a docket of some sort. The "on state service" handstamp is curious: per Proud, a regulation of 15 December 1925 stated that all official mail should be superscribed accordingly, but apparently a month later the regulations changed to require a superscription of "official" instead. One imagines the mail room of the Iraq Railways, having commissioned an "on state service" handstamp as required, were in little mood to change it shortly afterwards.
Some barbarian has gone all over the reverse in biro, as is regrettably evident: I can only assume these are intended to be prices for the stamps as on cover — I have an old money Gibbons which prices these as 4d and 3d respectively (to which then add the 4x on-cover multiplier from the current catalogue).
Postmarks: “Baghdad West” dated 25 November 1927, and a Baghdad sorting office mark of the same date.
Franking: 4½ annas: 3 annas for a basic-weight foreign letter and 1½ annas for the airmail surcharge.
Baghdad 🠚 Saint-Étienne, 26 November 1927
Posted just a day after the last cover. The addressee is, I was surprised to learn, a completely different entity to the better-known government arms manufactory at Saint-Étienne. Our company produced sporting guns and bicycles for civilians. Surprise number 2 is the long afterlife of the Ottoman Bank, which survived in one form or another, under that name, until 2001. I acquired this mainly for the bold airmail/registered handstamp. The registration label clearly shows how these must have been produced — they arrived at the post offices in sheets and the sheets were then handstamped, without too much care, before they were broken up.
Postmarks: three “Baghdad Reg.” postmarks dated 26 November 1927, Cairo 28 November. No French arrival mark despite it being a registered letter.
Franking: a total of 9 annas. Rates for a letter between 21 and 30 grams were 4½ for postage and another 4½ for airmail.
Baghdad 🠚 Basra, 8 December 1927
Internal airmail not so commonly encountered. The placement of the stamps is rather neat, but we have a business’s stamp on the reverse (“David & G. S. Abood / Watch Merchants / Baghdad”) and a boring recipient, so I regard this as bona fide.
Postmarks: Baghdad Exchange Square 8 December 1927 three times on obverse. On the reverse, another Baghdad (sorting office?) 8 December, and Basra, again 8 December. Very efficient.
Of note also, the nice early yellow/black airmail label, and the registration label, which appears to be covering up a purple “Registered” handstamp, presumably applied by the sender. Underneath the handstamped black text the ghost of another strike of the black handstamp can be seen.
Franking: 7½ annas. Thus, a letter above 20g but under 30g — 3 annas registration, 3 annas postage and 1½ annas airmail.
Baghdad 🠚 Lincoln, 27 October 1928
Another service cover. Here again we have, contrary to regulations, an “on state service” superscription instead of “official”, but a regulation subscription and signature (this time the Public Works Directorate) at the bottom-left. Addressee is Ruston & Hornsby Ltd., an engineering firm which (per Wikipedia) specialised in trains, steam shovels and the like.
Postmarks: two “Baghdad” postmarks dated 27 October 1928.
Franking: 4½ annas: 3 annas for a basic-weight foreign letter and 1½ annas for the airmail surcharge.
Baghdad 🠚 Prague, c. January 1929
Under-paid cover to Czechoslovakia. The franking was 1 anna short — doubled first into 2 annas, this sum, evidently, was the equivalent of 170 Czechoslovak haleru.
Postmarks: The Iraqi stamp cancelled Baghdad Exchange Square, with a wholly illegible date. The Czechoslovak stamps Prague 15 January 1929. I think earlier in January is a reasonable guess for the date of posting — right at the end of December, if not. On the reverse is the illegible remnant of a roller cancel — Czechoslovak or perhaps Egyptian? The circled “T” stamp was applied in Iraq. The significance of the red handwritten figure (50?) I don’t know. Evidently it wasn’t the postage deficiency.
Franking: 2 annas: 1 short of the correct total.
Baghdad 🠚 Chicago, 2 March 1929
This was definitely a "find", despite its condition: I believe this is, by some margin, the largest Mandate-period franking I've ever come across. The total postage is 4 rupees 10 annas, which is a considerable sum. Which leads naturally to the question of whether this is sincere or a contrivance. I count in its favour the ugliness of it: the sender doesn't seem to have had any aesthetic considerations in mind when placing the stamps (though there's surely more variety than was necessary), whereas they are placed as if they’re helping to hold the brown band down, and the recipient has opened the envelope roughly, destroying the ½ anna stamp on the reverse. Mr Nielsen, from a quick google, seems to have been an academic in the physics/engineering sort of area and has no obvious philatelic associations. Shortly after winning this cover I lost an auction for one with the same sender and recipient, from the same seller: that one was franked with 1 rupee and change and was entirely conventional-looking.
The U.S. customs seem to have opened this up on arrival, which presumably they wouldn't have done unless they suspected it to have undeclared valuable contents. A small, heavy (see below) letter with robust sealing presumably would have attracted some attention. The Iraqi post offered insurance services, which haven’t been availed of here, so the contents we must assume were small, but heavy, but also not valuable. Which rules out, for example, gold Sovereigns or something like that. Mysterious.
The purple "registered" stamp on the obverse is presumably an American marking, likewise the strange purple smearing on the reverse.
Postmarks: six “Baghdad Exchange Square Reg.” postmarks dated 2 March 1929: four on the obverse and two on the reverse. A “Baghdad Reg.” dated 2 March on the obverse. Four purple registered arrival marks I can’t advise intelligently on. Two are “Chicago, Ill. Reg. Div.” marks dated 21 March 1929, the other two are illegible, dated the same date.
Franking: 4 rupees 10 annas, or 74 annas. A registered airmail letter weighing between 291 and 300 grams cost 72 annas, which is the closest fee I can find. Nothing seems to correspond exactly. If the letter was at the next weight step it would have cost 75 annas. This is more evidence suggesting that the cover is philatelic, though at this high of a franking a small overpayment is more plausible than it would be for a lower one.
Basra 🠚 Staines, 28 May 1929
A rather cute object, I think. The size of the stamp gives an idea of the dimensions: it expands out a little but is still a neat, compact package. Sent from a Mrs Mary Joffre of Basra to a Mr Henry Martin of Staines, neither of whom give any results online.
Postmarks: “Basra Regd.” dated 28 May 1939 [sic]. 1929 must be what was intended. On the reverse, a British registered arrival mark dated 13 June 1929. Text reads “Registered … Middx.”.
Franking: 4 annas. Subtract 3 for registration and we have 1 for postage. This package would have attracted the special discount “books, printed papers, etc.” rate, but what that rate actually was in 1929 I do not know. The earliest rate I can find is that of 1930, where it was ½ anna per 50 grams. Taking this rate back a year into 1929 (thus giving us a package weighing between 51 and 100 grams) must make sense.