Covers (1940 to 1949)
Part 4 of the covers pages, covering the 1940s. Towards the end of this decade my knowledge of the rates becomes considerably patchier. Previously there were several paragraphs of my thinking out loud about the rates here, but I’ve relocated these to their own page.
Baghdad 🠚 Basel, 11 February 1940
Bell AG is, apparently, a food producer unrelated to the telephone company, which had been my first thought.
Postmarks: A Baghdad sub-office twice on the obverse (illegible — Baghdad as-Samawal perhaps), 11 February 1940, and Baghdad sorting office 11 February 1940 on the reverse.
Franking: 15 fils. This takes advantage of the special rates for commercial correspondence, as indicated at the top-left. The basic rate for this service was 15 fils, the same as a regular external letter, but the advantage was that the initial weight step was 300g, compared to 20g for a regular letter, and further increments added only 3 fils each time.
Censor marks: none, although the use of “English written” at top-left indicates some sort of censorship system was in place at this point, even if this cover seems to have avoided it. The earliest requirement that a cover state the language of its contents known to the authors of “Iraq Postal History…” is dated September 1942, though they note the lack of surviving information on this point available to them.
Baghdad 🠚 Sparta, 26 April 1941
Nice largeish multiple franking. At this point the Anglo-Iraqi war was only a week away. Quite a bit of information can be found about the recipient, Mr William Gurney of Sparta, Wisconsin — a real pillar of the community it seems like. I can find nothing on the sender, evidently a relative. He posted this at Baghdad but with an Istanbul return address, interestingly.
Postmarks: Baghdad Junoubi 26 April 1941, six times on the reverse.
Franking: 480 fils. A letter weighing over 15 and under 20g at this point needed 20 fils postage (under the 24 July 1940 tarriff) and 460 fils airmail.
Censor marks: purple triangular mark on the obverse. Not listed in “Iraq Postal History…” so I can’t add much.
Baghdad 🠚 Baghdad, 19 May 1941
This I think is an interesting one. A local rate cover (less rare for this era, but still very uncommon) posted at Baghdad As-Samawal (the former Exchange Square) and addressed to the US legation in Baghdad. The obverse postmark is dated 19 May, the day the British captured Fallujah. They would soon begin their successful advance on Baghdad, which surrendered on 31 May. The Regent returned to the city on 1 June.
Moving to the reverse, this was postmarked by the Baghdad delivery office on 20 May. However it was evidently not delivered on that date, as it was postmarked by the delivery office a second time on 1 June. I have no specific knowledge of how the Anglo-Iraqi conflict affected the postal service, but it’s reasonable to assume the deteriorating military situation caused mail delivery to break down or become suspended completely. The backlog would then have begun to be cleared after Baghdad was surrendered. Alternatively, a censorship official could have singled this cover out for particular attention, considering its destination, whereupon it sat in the censor’s drawer until peace was restored.
I. & C. Ades Ltd. described itself, in its advertisement in the 1948 Baghdad College yearbook, as “car dealers, building and transport contractors, special commercial department for textiles and general goods, insurance agents.”
Postmarks: Baghdad As-Samawal 19 May 1941 on obverse. Baghdad Delivery 20 May and Baghdad Delivery 1 July on reverse.
Franking: 5 fils, meeting the increased local delivery rate of 24 July 1940.
Censor marks: another unidentified purple triangular mark on the obverse, as above.
Baghdad 🠚 Baghdad, 17 December 1941
And another local-rate cover to the American Legation, why not.
Postmarks: Adhamiya 17 December 1941 (obverse), Baghdad Sorting 17 December, Baghdad Delivery 18 December, two Karradah arrival marks 18 December (all reverse).
Franking: 5 fils for the local rate.
Censor marks: purple “Iraqi Government Post Directorate / permitted to pass without opening” mark. Note also the “English” handstamp indicating the language of the contents.
Basra 🠚 Basra, 17 March 1942
A third local-rate cover — these actually aren’t too common, but the fact of their uncommonness means I go for them when they come up for sale, thus my having three in a row to present here. Anyway this time we’re at Basra, for some variety. The “I. W. T.” was the “Inland Water Transport” — probably self-explanatory.
Postmarks: Basra Sorting 17 March 1942 (obverse), Basra Sorting 18 March, Basra Delivery 18 March, “O-Base Post Office” Delivery 18 March (all reverse). What exactly O-Base was, I do not know — some military facility or other, I assume.
Franking: 5 fils for the local rate.
Censor marks: purple “Not Examined / Iraq Censorship” mark.
Basra 🠚 Bahrain, 27 October 1942
An unarguable contrivance — evident enough from the franking, but confirmed beyond doubt by the contents. Much interest however in seeing a (temporarily successful) franking with revenue stamps — they seem to have been overlooked at the point of postmarking, but were later identified and isolated in violet pencil. The Qatar Digital Library possesses an interesting little archive concerning US naval observation operations in the Persian Gulf. The US navy had requested to open an office in the region, at Bahrain, and this was eventually granted. The hope expressed in the letter that “you guys got off safely” was perhaps less flippant than it first appears — one Lieutenant-Commander Grove, intended to head up the office, was killed in a plane crash between Baghdad and Basra as he flew to Bahrain to take up his post. His replacement arrived safely, but relocated permanently to Basra shortly afterwards. A skeleton staff seem to have remained behind at Bahrain — as of 3 August 1944 there were four US naval officers, one of whom was the Lieutenant Goddin being written to here. Interestingly, we read that “GOODIN [sic] has just been promoted and has orders to proceed to WASHINGTON immediately.”
Postmarks: Basra 27 October 1942 three times on the obverse, and again on the reverse, dated 28 October. Also on the reverse a Bahrain mark, dated 23[sic] October.
Franking: A philatelic 66 fils — 46 too many. Two of the stamps are revenues, as noted.
Censorship: Iraqi “Not Examined / Iraq Censorship” mark on the obverse, Bahraini “Passed by Censor / Bahrain” mark on the reverse. There is a noteworthy telegram of 24 March 1941 in the papers described above, where the Secretary of State for India comments: “it is considered desirable not to insist on right to censor correspondence of Naval Observer.”
See also: 13.IV.1945; V.1958
“Dear Cliff[?] + Dirk[?]
Take it you guys got off safely. Herewith 1st instalment on[?] Iraq stamps 66 fils= 33 cents US = ? Bahrein + Saudi Arabia stamps [word] make these collections complete.
Yours
Jim”
Sulaymaniyah 🠚 Cairo, 28 December 1942
Heavily marked cover to Cairo. Egypt had been threatened by Rommel’s panzers in the summer of 1942, but by December the situation had calmed down.
Postmarks: all on the reverse. Sulaymaniyah reg. 28 December 1942 (four times), Baghdad reg. 29 December 1942, smudgy Cairo arrival mark dated 11 January 1943, if I read correctly.
Franking: 40 fils: 20 each for postage and registration.
Censor marks: Iraqi “Not Examined / Iraq Censorship” mark. Egyptian censor tape, tied to the cover on both sides by a circular “censorship / post / 2” mark, and a further Egyptian “postal censor / 70” mark on the obverse. Why certain letters were allowed to pass without examination, I do not know — at any rate, the Iraqi and Egyptian censors evidently took divergent views on this one.
Karbala 🠚 Yazd, 1941-42
Four covers from Karbala to Yazd, Iran, on various dates in 1941 and 1942. None of these is particularly exciting on its own but, taken together, they’re an interesting view of the the various ways one could pay the 20 fils international postage rate in a period where the stamp supply was a little irregular. We have:
22 July 1941 — two 10f stamps of the 1 April 1941 pictorial issue.
4 September 1941 — a 20f stamp of the 1931 King Ghazi issue.
14 May 1942 — two 10f stamps of the 9 February 1941 King Faisal II issue.
August 1942 — a 20f stamp of the 1 April 1941 pictorial issue.
A 20f stamp in the correct UPU blue colour for international postage wouldn’t be issued until 20 February 1943.
Note also the evolution in censorship practices — the circular “Civ4” stamp gives away to the square “Civ2” stamp (per Armitage & Johnson’s classification) and censor tape appears.
Baghdad 🠚 Louisville, 29 August 1943
These kinds of elongated grey covers to the US are the typical canvas for enormous wartime frankings — one sees postage even in excess of 1 dinar occasionally. Here we have 400 fils — modest for these troubled times but, of course, inconceivably large by pre-war standards. The war summoned the west African mail route into existence — to avoid the hazards of the Mediterranean, post for the USA was sent instead to Cairo and then one of several routes across Africa to Lagos or thereabouts. From there, it could have been flown up to Lisbon for a trans-Atlantic flight or, as seems to have been the case here, despatched by sea. Whether this was done from Lagos, or elsewhere (or both), I am unfortunately ignorant.
Postmarks: Junoubi Baghdad 29 August 1943 on the obverse. Reverse: in Iraq the same again, and Baghdad Reg. 31 August. Then, several purple US registered postmarks — 3 November, Miami; 5 November, a different Miami postmark, half-illegible; 6 November, Louisville. The lengthy transit time, over two months, is of course notable.
Franking: 400 fils. Under the 5 February 1943 tariff, a letter over 15g but under 20g was 20 fils for postage and 360 for airmail (three 5g increments of 120 fils each) — so, 380 fils, presumably rounded up here for convenience. Possibly this weighed 16g specifically — note the red pencil “16” on the reverse.
Censor marks: Standard purple “Iraqi Censorship” box mark — here, number 30. Beige Iraqi examiner tape and the usual unpleasant clear US tape. The blue numbers on the reverse were applied during the US inspection process.
Basra 🠚 London, c. April 1944
Neat, colourful cover which touches on a matter of which I am ignorant. This cover is from one private company to another: Gray Mackenzie & Co. were shipping agents, and Frank C. Strick & Co. were shippers, mainly in the Persian Gulf. Evidently, though, there was some connection in their activities to the war effort. This cover was sent in a British diplomatic bag, and there’s a handstamped instruction on the obverse that, if the letter is undelivered, it should be forwarded not back to the sender, but to the Ministry of War Transport in London. Possibly this is what actually happened, as there’s a Ministry of War Transport “received” stamp on the reverse.
Postmarks: no local ones, as seems to be the standard for diplomatic bag mail to the limited extent I can comment. Unreadable London registered arrival mark.
Franking: 180 fils. If the letter weighed between 21 and 25 grams we get 30 fils for postage and 150 for airmail. For this to work the letter would need to be unregistered — I assume it wasn’t registered (why would it be, if it was carried in the diplomatic pouch?) and the application of a UK registration label on arrival was, likewise, part of the process for handling diplomatic mail.
Censor marks: no Iraqi marks, unsurprisingly. British “opened by examiner” tape.
Baghdad 🠚 Baghdad, 19 June 1944
A registered local letter, sent probably to a chemical works in Baghdad.
Postmarks: Baghdad As-Samawal 19 June 1944 on both sides, Baghdad Delivery 19 June on reverse.
Franking: exceptionally neat here. 6 fils for postage (the rate having risen again on 1 May 1942) and 20 fils for registration.
Censor marks: Circular 2 mark of Armitage & Johnson’s “Civ 3A” type.
Mosul 🠚 Baghdad, 5 August 1944
Sent by one H. M. Hafidh of Mosul (nothing online) to, as I understand it, the “general money importing directory” of the “chemical materials branch” in Baghdad.
Postmarks: Mosul 5 August 1944 on both sides, and Baghdad Delivery 6 August on the reverse.
Franking: 32 fils. 20 for the registration fee and 12 for internal postage.
Censor marks: Circular 12 mark of Armitage & Johnson’s “Civ 3A” type.
Habbaniyah 🠚 Baghdad, 9 September 1944
Some interesting features here, and I’m wholly unqualified to comment on them.
Postmarks: Field Post Office 171, 9 September 1944, once on each side. This was an RAF office located at the airfield at Habbaniyah. On the reverse, Indian Section Base Office No. 7, 10 September (located at Baghdad) and an Iraqi civil postmark, Baghdad 10 September.
Franking: none visible. The obverse is superscribed “O.A.S.” which I understand normally means no postage is payable. There is, however, a circular violet “Postage / Paid / Iraq” handstamp as well, which suggests of course that something was paid. How these two features interact, I do not know. Note that the airmail indication has been crossed out in pen.
Censor marks: all on the obverse. “R.A.F. Censor 320” with his signature, and “Passed By R. A. F. Base Censor / No. 17 / 9 Sep 1944”. On the Iraqi side, a circular 9 mark, again, of the “Civ 3A” type.
Baghdad 🠚 Chicago, 16 January 1945
Obviously this is a contrivance, but it's an attractive one. Sent to the USA and I must assume the sender, from his use of a yellow envelope, was American also. The letter was posted in Baghdad on the 16th January 1945 and was then duly opened, read and re-sealed by a Baghdad censor. The letter seems to have hung around in Iraq until the 18th January, per the cut-off upside-down postmark on the reverse (the Arabic is legible but not to me, regrettably). Arrived in New York on the 9th February 1945 and was re-opened, re-read and re-re-sealed by an American censor. This apparently took a few days as the letter wasn't despatched from New York until the 14th, arriving in Chicago on the 15th where it was forwarded to the relevant post office, arriving on the 16th.
Postmarks: all on reverse unless stated.
“Baghdad Reg.” 16 January 1945 (two on obverse, six on reverse).
Another Baghdad postmark dated 18 January 1945.
“New York, N.Y. Reg’y. Div.”, 9 February 1945.
“New York, N.Y. Reg’y. Div.”, 14 February 1945.
“Chicago… Registry Div.”, 15 February 1945.
“Chicago Stock Yards(?)… Registered”, 16 February 1945.
Franking: 100 fils. Subtract 20 for registration and 80 fils pays a letter weighing between 61 and 80 grams. Assuming this isn’t simply a large overpayment for philatelic purposes.
Censor marks: Iraqi “opened by censor” tape on left, US “examined by” tape on right. “Iraqi censorship 43(?)” handstamp on obverse.
Basra 🠚 New York, 13 April 1945
Another attempt at trying to pay postage with a revenue stamp. This one was spotted and wasn’t postmarked.
Postmarks: Basra sorting office 13 April 1945 on the obverse. On the reverse, Basra sorting office 15 April 1945. Note that these are different postmarks entirely — the earlier has a line for the time while the latter doesn’t.
Franking: an attempted 140 fils — 100 postage and 40 revenue. A registered airmail letter at the first weight step would have been 135 fils (10f postage, 20f registration, 115f airmail), so it seems like this was what the sender intended. A mere 100 fils could pay for neither registration nor airmail, hence the scored-out “Registered” at the top. “Clipper” and “via air mail” ought also to have been scored out.
Censor marks: Iraqi “opened by censor” tape on left, US “examined by” tape on right. “Iraqi censorship 40” handstamp on obverse.
See also: 27.X.1943; V.1958
Baghdad 🠚 Beirut, 1 May 1946
A pleasant official cover.
Postmarks: Baghdad Reg. 1 May 1946 twice on the obverse. On the reverse, the same, and a Beirut arrival mark, 10 May 1946.
Franking: 40 fils, which I take to be the third surface mail weight step (20+10+10).
Longview 🠚 Baghdad, 14 April 1947
Another refused cover, this time to Iraq (see also 12.XI.1937). This one actually did make it back to the sender.
Franking: 4 cents. The international letter rate at this point was (still — see 8.VI.1935) 5 cents. So, a 1 cent underpayment, doubled to two cents for penalty, and then converted to UPU Centimes at a rate of 1:5 for a total of 10 centimes.
A small but important question: what actually was the postage due payable? I don’t see where it’s indicated on the cover. At this time a basic-weight external letter out of Iraq was 20 fils, which I think requires a fils:centimes exchange rate of 1:1.25, so a tax of 12.5 fils in this case — presumably rounded up to 13. On the obverse in pencil we have what looks like 16, or something ending in 6 anyway, and on the reverse what I’d hesitantly read as “27/4/51”(?) — it seems like a date, at any rate.
Postmarks:
Longview, Alberta, 14 April 1947 (obverse)
Canadian “T / 10 CENTIMES” (obv.)
Hexagonal “Baghdad / Refused / 21 Apr 47” (rev.)
“REFUSED” (obv.)
“RETURN TO SENDER” (obv.)
Baghdad dead letter office, 22 April 1947 (twice, reverse)
Baghdad sorting office, 23 April 1947) (reverse)
Longview, Alberta, 29 May 1947 (reverse)
Baghdad 🠚 Hamilton, 6 August 1948
From early on in the postal tax era — here we’re still in the voluntary phase. Interesting recipients: I can find nothing about Michael Moses esqr., but Colonel Francis T. (sic) Colby seems to have been a colourful character. A bachelor of independent means, he travelled around the remoter parts of the world shooting their exotic fauna. He served as an ambulanceman in WWI and after that had a creditable career in the peacetime US army. His home in Hamilton was lavishly bedecked with hunting and other trophies, and today a replica of one room stands in the Boston Museum of Science, an institution he had patronised generously. He died in 1953.
Postmarks: Baghdad Al-Mansur 6 August 1948 on obverse. On the reverse: the same three times, Baghdad reg. 7 August 1948 twice, New York Airmail Field 12 August, Hamilton, Mass. 18 August.
Franking: 115 fils. 95 less registration: in January 1947, a letter between 5 and 10 grams was 20 fils for postage and the airmail was 70 fils (per Armitage & Johnson). If this was still the case eighteen-odd months later, then we have a small overpayment.
Tax: 10 fils, paid voluntarily. Fun to see the tax stamp in the traditional place of the franking, and vice-versa.
Baghdad 🠚 London, 1 September 1948
Very sepia-toned airmail to Richman, Symes & Co. of London, who were apparently in the business of “camp equipage making”. Sent by the Ministry of Defence, which would probably have reason to be interested. “2/8/18” at top-left is some sort of archival docket no doubt.
Postmarks: Baghdad sorting office 1 September 1948.
Franking: 56 fils. An external surface rate of 20f leaves 36f for the airmail, which I conjecture to be the fourth weight step of a 9f/5g airmail tariff.
Tax: none.
Basra 🠚 Helsingborg, 2 February 1949
A rather unattractive cover, which I have no recollection of buying (it came in a group lot I think) but it features a tax payment of 10 fils at time when the compulsory payment of 5 fils was in effect. This is the highest surplus tax payment during the compulsory period I have seen, equal to the 5 fils surplus in the Buscke article (see the relevant page). Which shows the value of giving a second look to the cheap material.
Postmarks: Baghdad sorting office 2 February 1949, twice.
Franking: 45 fils. 20 fils postage and 25 fils the BOAC airmail fee of 18 January 1949.
Censor marks: a very weak strike of what looks like a triangular censor mark on the reverse.
Tax: 10 fils, as noted.
Basra 🠚 Bishop Auckland, 3 March 1949
Possibly the first cover I ever acquired — see 5.II.1927 for more pontification on this tremendously interesting question. This is another antique scan, done the same day as the other first cover. Evidently, however, I’d refined my technique in some hurry, as this one is rather nice and balanced-looking (really, more balanced than any of the others here, as I didn’t apply any levels to it).
Postmarks: Basra sorting office, 3 March 1949, twice.
Franking: 38 fils. 20 fils postage and then 18 fils airmail — my best guess is the second weight step of a 5g/9 fils tariff.
Censor marks: something triangular on the back, again beyond my knowledge.
Tax: 5 fils, as required.
Karbala 🠚 Hillah, 13 March 1949
Sent by an illegible government department to the “Euphrates construction projects” at Hilla. Not so common to encounter a domestic registered cover.
Postmarks: Karbala reg. 13 March 1949 once on each side. No arrival postmark, notably.
Franking: 39 fils. Under the 1 January 1949 tariff we have 14f postage and 25f registration.
Tax: none. We’re into the compulsory period but the legislation enacting the tax stamps exempted official mail from having to use them.
Baghdad 🠚 Basra, 12 July 1949
The fortunes of the Chaldean Church in Iraq have declined since this cover was posted, as can be imagined. The black handstamped text reads “sergeant of Basra”, whatever that may mean.
Postmarks: Baghdad As-Samawal 12 July 1949 twice on the obverse, Basra 14 July 1949 on the reverse.
Franking: 14 fils — the basic internal surface rate. Armitage & Johnson say the internal airmail was suspended on 15 September 1946 — was it still in suspension all this time later. If it was operative I’d have expected the airmail indication to have been crossed out. A more benign hypothesis is that by this point the internal airmail had been reintroduced, and was free of charge.
Tax: 2 fils, as required for an internal letter.
Baghdad 🠚 Amman, 1 September 1949
Heavily folded but still rather charming I think. Sent by the Ministry of Defence, per the purple handstamp at bottom-left.
Postmarks: Baghdad 1 September 1949, both sides, and on the reverse Damascus 4 September 1949 and Amman 4 September 1949.
Franking: 55 fils. Subtract 25f for registration and 20f for postage to leave 10f for airmail. Presumably the second weight step of a 5f/10g system.
Tax: again, none.
Basra 🠚 New York, 15 December 1949
Curious at first glance to see the “Date Board” or “Date Association Directorate” being entitled to the use of service stamps, but dates seem to have been a principal cash crop of Iraq in former times. Recall that a stylised depiction of one appears on the 1 rupee of the 1923 issue. I can find nothing on the recipient, but in 1969 his wife, still in Corona, was chairlady of the “African Violet Society of Greater New York”. So, probably some sort of horticultural connection.
Postmarks: Baghdad sorting office, 15 December 1949.
Franking: 66 fils. 28f for postage and 38f for the TWA airmail fee (since 1 November 1949).
Baghdad 🠚 Cairo, ???
A wrapper of some description. I put this down at the bottom because I can’t make anything of the date. It must, of course, be later than 1 February 1949, when the airmail stamps were frist issued.
Postmarks: Something illegible on the reverse. A postage due marking from Baghdad as-Samawal. There doesn’t seem to have been any particular attempt at collecting the outstanding postage.
Franking: 10 fils, which was evidently inadequate.