Voice of the American Helvetia Philatelic Society a Swiss P/T Letter
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VOL. XX, NUMBER 4 JULY 1994 Voice of the American Helvetia Philatelic Society A Swiss P/T Letter Harlan F. Stone Since PTT in Switzerland stands for post, An inspection of the form shows that someone named telephone and telegraph, a Swiss letter that is transmit- "Desgrand" consigned the message to the Basel telegraph ted part way by telegraph and part way by post can office on August 13, 1863, at 5 :45 p.m. The text requests be called a P/T letter . Such a letter is illustrated in that Desgrand Father (and) Son in Turin, presumably a Hans Hunziker's Strubel, Helvetia assise non dentelee, related business firm, send samples of merchandise, 1854–1862 (p.118). That letter went from Basel to which are identified by numbers . This telegram reached Magadino by telegraph on April 2, 1862, and from the telegraph office in Magadino, a small village on the Magadino across the Italian border to Turin by post northeast shore of Lago Maggiore, at 8 p .m. There the on April 3. It was franked with two 40c Strubels, one Swiss telegraph line ended. for postage to Italy and one for the equal registration Having introduced telegraph service at post offices in fee . Hunziker describes this use of Strubels as un- 1852, Switzerland quickly realized that it needed sepa- usual (to say the least). rate facilities for its main telegraph offices in order not to In 1992 a similar letter from the same correspon- interfere with postal services . But small telegraph offices, dence surfaced in a small French sale . This letter, like the one in Magadino, remained in post offices, where postmarked August 14, 1863, bears two vermillion the postal agents were responsible for both telegraph and 30c Sitting Helvetia stamps. Together, the two letter postal services .' At Magadino, the agent, Gilardi, wrote reflect the postage reduction from 40c to 30c for a 10g down Desgrand's telegram on the official form, signed it, letter going to Italy, effective on July 1, 1862 ; the affixed the Sitting Helvetia stamps, and thus converted introduction of the Sitting Helvetia issue on October the telegram into a letter for forwarding to Italy by post. 1,1862; and the end of the Strubel period on July 31, The 60c cost, half for postage and half for the equal 1863. So far, the second letter is unique, being the registration fee, was presumably billed to Desgrand in only one recorded with Sitting Helvetia stamps on an Basel. official telegram form . (continued on page 2) American Helvetia Philatelic Society Contents Officers 1992—1994 ELECTED OFFICERS APPOINTED OFFICERS A Swiss P/T Letter 1 President TELL Editor Ernest L. Bergman Steven S . Weston 1421 Harris St P.O . Box 868 From the President 3 State College PA 16803-3024 Del Mar CA 92014-0868 Home : 814-238-0164 619-752-7812 Sales Circuit Notes 3 Past President Circuit Sales Manager Mario Wiedenmeier Emil L . Tobler Editor's Comment 4 12 Lyncrest Drive P.O. Box 26 Galveston TX 77550-3215 Bradford RI 02808 Home : 409-763-4855 Home : 401-377-2238 Swiss Postcards and Their Rates 5 Vice-President Auction Manager Automation of Mail as Seen by the Stamp Collector . 8 Steve P. Turchik George Struble 727 E . Pleasant St. 210 18th St NE Santa Paula CA 93060 Salem OR 97301 Swiss Mail Service During World War II 10 Home : 805-525-6362 Home : 503-364-3929 Profile of a Swiss Stamp Collector — Walter Abt . 12 Secretary & Librarian Publicity Chairman Richard T . Hall Awards Chairman P.O . Box 666 Editor Emeritus Lebensraum Bodensee 14 Manhattan Beach CA 90266 Harlan F. Stone Home : 310-546-5226 P.O . Box 334 Woodside NY 11377 A Peek into the Future? 15 Treasurer Home: 718-478-2374 Frank Young Who's Who on Swiss Stamps 16 412 North Main Street Slide Chairman Herkimer NY 13350 Richard W. Blaney Home : 315-866-7822 PO Box 1100 Copyright 1994, The American Helvetia Philatelic Society (AHPS). Easton MA 02334-1100 TELL (ISSN 1042-2072) is the official journal of the American Hel- Regional Director West 508-238-3134 vetia Philatelic Society, affiliate #52 of the American Philatelic Society Dick Barton and a member of the Union of Swiss Philatelic Societies . TELL is 2800 Crestview REPRESENTATIVES published bimonthly (Jan/Mar/May/Jul/Sep/Nov). Loveland CO 80538 Union of Swiss Philatelic So- Opinions expressed in this journal are those of the authors and are not Home : 303-669-8130 cieties Representative necessarily endorsed by AHPS or the Editor. Ralph Soderberg Regional Director Central P .O . Box 36067 Letters and articles on Swiss, Liechtenstein, UN Geneva and William R. Lucas Grosse Pointe Woods related philately are welcome and should be sent to the Editor. P.O . Box 2103 MI 48236 Manuscripts should be typed, double-spaced . Whenever possible, submit Aurora IL 60507 Home : 313-885-4125 material on 5¼" or 3½" PC or Macintosh computer diskettes (high Home: 312-983-9149 density Mac disks). Illustrations may be submitted as full size photo- American Philatelic Society copies ; or, we can copy/scan your originals (please contact the Editor Regional Director East Charles J. LaBlonde before sending actual stamps, covers, etc.) . Please include your ad- David E . Durham, Pastor P .O . Box 264 dress and telephone number. #7 Allenhurst Road Chelmsford MA 01824 Subscriptions for 1994, include AHPS dues : North America, $20; Buffalo NY 14214-1201 Home : 508-256-3904 overseas air delivery, $30 . Request membership applications from the Home : 716-833-6504 Secretary . Change-of-Address should be sent to the Secretary. Liechtenstein Study Group Commercial advertising copy and rate inquiries should be sent to Plan to attend/exhibit at Chm : Max Rheinberger the Editor . Advertising deadlines are the first of the month prior to these AHPS Conventions and 100 Elizabeth St. # 510 publication (Dec/Feb/Apr/Jun/Aug/Oct). shows: Duluth MN 55802 APS/SCOPEX March 1995 Home : 218-728-3925 Printed by Kettle Moraine Printing, West Bend WI 53095 . State College PA ARIPEX January 1996 1994 AHPS Convention Cover: Swiss P/T Letter (continued from page 1) Phoenix AZ Chm : Harlan F. Stone The evidence of the letter's journey by post is abun- Pacific'97 P.O . Box 334 dant. On the front are two Magadino circular date San Francisco CA Woodside NY 11377 stamps of August 14, one tying the pair of stamps to the Home : 718-478-2374 cover, and the Magadino "chargé" mark for registration, which helped ensure safe delivery. On the back is a "Verbano N.2" lake steamer postmark, showing that the letter was carried by that boat on its southbound run (N.2) to the Italian end of the lake. Also on the back is a "Torino" arrival postmark dated August 14. Through this combination of Swiss telegraph and postal services, Desgrand's international telegram reached its destination within 24 hours. HistoiredesPostesSuisse 1849—1949, LesPostes Fédérales, Ernest Bonjour, PTT, 1949, Vol. 2, p.165. 2 TELL July 1994 From the President Editor's Comment It would be very nice if we could look into the future Steven S. Weston and see what will happen. On the other hand, we are As of June 1, no one has volunteered to take over as lucky that we are unable to be certain of what is ahead of Editor. We need someone to step forward now, even if us, otherwise we may give up too early in despair! only for a year. As this is being written, it is nearly four weeks until This will be an expensive year for new issue our convention at NAPEX, and when you read it, it will be subscribers. Goats and chickens will cost Fr . 1 .50 and two or three weeks afterwards . All I can say today is that 2 .– respectively. Another man at work, this time a joiner, I am sure we'll have a fine convention and our convention will cost Fr. 3.–. Add another booklet of ten A-post stamps chairman, Harlan Stone, and David Durham are doing a for Fr. 8.–. Double those amounts to meet minimum great job and deserve a well earned thank you from all of purchase requirements for a total of Fr. 29.–! us who participate. And if you're a collector of postal stationery, add Fr. In the last Tell, you read that it is three issues down prepaid and, according to Editor Steven Weston, three more to go! 13.– for mint and canceled versions of the new for the new Mini Post Pac He jumped into action at a time when Helvetia was in adhesive address labels . For Fr. 3 .–, one gets a dire need of an editor and has produced three fine Tell tariff to go into effect on July 1 collapsible cardboard box and a red imprinted address issues for which he deserves many thanks and our sincerest appreciation . As he wrote, an editor cannot do label for sending unregistered small packets weighing up . 3.50 blue label for it alone and the support of the membership in every way to 1 kilo . The same is offered with a Fr up to 2 kilos. According to the PTT, trimmed labels and is needed. Is there a member out there in our fraternity who is willing to step in as interim editor for a year or stamps cut from the labels are not valid for prepayment two? Please, we need you now! From the start, Steve of postage and will not be cancelled. stated his willingness to be editor for one year and while I know, we all would like to keep him on forever, we have to consider seriously a replacement for him.