B. C. & V. I. Double-Frank Covers

Transcription

1 B. C. & V. I. Double-Frank Covers Bob and Dale Forster It is well known that Vancouver Island and British Columbia used handstamp franks to prepay colonial postage, both before and after their issue of adhesive stamps. A few covers are known bearing two different handstamp franks. This article illustrates those uses and seeks answers as to why these double-franks exist. Figure 1 shows the five recorded Victoria handstamp franks, the New Westminster frank and the Nanaimo frank. Victoria 1 is normally seen used to designate prepayment of colonial postage in 1858 and 1859 on Wells Fargo and Freeman s Express envelopes; only one example is recorded on a cover used from the government post office. 1 Victoria 2 replaced Victoria 1 in about December 1859 and is known used on envelopes carried by expresses and on envelopes carried by the post office. It was also used as a cancel on adhesive postage stamps. Victoria 3 seems to have been used only on Wells Fargo envelopes beginning in late Victoria 4 began use in early 1861 with early examples in black ink which was succeeded by blue ink. It was used on both express and postal envelopes to prepay colonial postage and also used as a cancel on adhesive stamps. Figure 1. Vancouver Island and British Columbia Handstamp Franks (75%). PHSC Journal 158 Summer

2 Figure 2. Wells Fargo Victoria, circa Victoria 5 may have begun use as early as 1861 and was used for a considerable period both as frank and as a cancel on adhesive stamps. 2 New Westminster s frank exists in blue, red and black inks and was also used to cancel adhesive stamps. Nanaimo s frank, usually in red ink but occasionally in black, was used to show prepayment of postage and also as a postage stamp cancel. Figure 2 shows an unused envelope from lot 237 in H. R. Harmer s Caspary sale of October 9-10, This lot was not illustrated in the public auction catalog, but was illustrated by Bill Longley in his reprint of the complete illustrations of Caspary s exhibition pages. The express statutes of B.C.&V.I., like those in the United States at the same period, required express companies to prepay government postage. In the case of Wells Fargo in Victoria, the procedure necessitated paying both colonial and United States postage. Therefore Wells Fargo took their franked envelopes, already bearing United States embossed postage, to the Victoria post office and prepaid the 5 colonial postage tax. The Victoria postmaster then applied the appropriate handstamp device denoting prepayment of the postage and gave the envelopes back to Wells Fargo who sold them to the public. Thus, when a Wells Fargo customer brought a letter to the Wells Fargo office the envelope was already prepaid with Vancouver Island and U.S. postage. Wells Fargo then carried it south by ship without the envelope going back to the Victoria post office. In the case of Figure 2, an unused envelope, two different franks were applied, one over the U.S. postage. This looks like some kind of a proof, possibly indicating uncertainty by the Victoria postmaster as to how to proceed. Wells Fargo agents were given instructions not to cancel U.S. postage on envelopes which might enter the mail so Wells Fargo would not have been happy with the Victo- 4 PHSC Journal 158 Summer 2014

3 Figure 3. Wells Fargo Victoria to Nevada City, California Circa ria postmaster applying their frank over the U.S. postage. Figure 3 is an envelope with a similar double-franking used to Nevada, California. Victoria s Wells Fargo agent knew Wells Fargo could deliver to Nevada City without ever being in the government post and the envelope was sent off without the usual oval WELLS FARGO VICTORIA datestamp. Had the cover been addressed to a town in which Wells Fargo did not have an office, it seems unlikely the agent would have used an envelope with the U.S. postage already canceled. Figure 4 is a curious 1860 use from Victoria. The black double-oval PAID was applied by the Victoria post office. 3 We have seen a few 1859 and 1860 postal uses where this PAID device was used as a frank, without any of the franks illustrated in Figure 1 being present. Apparently that is the case here, with Victoria 2 and Victoria 4 (at top) used only as cancels for the U.S. postage. The red 10 represents the amount of U.S. postage needed possibly the envelope originated outside Victoria where U.S. postage was not available, then the 10 was crossed out when the U.S. stamps were affixed at the Victoria post office. As a convenience to customers, the Victoria post office had sold United States stamps from at least When the envelope reached San Francisco, the San Francisco dated device was used to better obliterate the stamps. Figure 5 is an 1862 Wells Fargo envelope, unfortunately devoid of much collectible PHSC Journal 158 Summer

4 Figure 4. Victoria to Lowell Massachusetts Figure 5. Wells Fargo Victoria to Ashby, Massachusetts PHSC Journal 158 Summer 2014

5 value by the tearing off of the U.S. embossed postage and probably additional adhesive stamps. Since U.S. transcontinental postage was 10 at this period, the envelope probably originally bore 3 embossed postage plus an additional 7 in adhesive stamps. The envelope shows the Victoria 3 frank in its usual position at top-left and an additional strike of Victoria 4 below. The second frank apparently has no purpose at all. Even if this was a double-rate use with 20 U.S. postage, only one frank was necessary since the colonial postage on mail going outside the colony was a tax which was not doubled on doubleweight letters. Figure 6 is an envelope from Nanaimo (about 60 miles north of Victoria on Vancouver Island) addressed to New Westminster on the mainland. It bears the Nanaimo frank in red and the Victoria 5 frank applied in transit. There are several covers from this correspondence with the Nanaimo frank but this is the only one we have seen with a Victoria marking. It seems unlikely that these other covers would have found ships going direct to New Westminster, since Nanaimo was a very small town without regular steamship service to the mainland. If Nanaimo covers addressed to the mainland regularly transited Victoria, they normally show no Victoria markings. In about 1869 Victoria would adopt a small round circular datestamp with the day, month and year which was sometimes used as a transit marking, but the use of frank 5 as a transit mark at this date (circa 1866) apparently served little purpose and did not represent an additional postal charge. The Deaville book makes it clear that postal covers originating on the mainland, Figure 6. Nanaimo to New Westminster Circa PHSC Journal 158 Summer

6 Figure 7. Ballou s Express, Fraser River Mines, to Alvarado, California PHSC Journal 158 Summer 2014

7 sent to Victoria or through Victoria and south through the United States did not require Vancouver Island postage. Henry Wooton, Victoria postmaster, wrote to the Colonial Secretary on November 7, 1864, No Vancouver Island Colonial postage has ever been collected on foreign letters either to or from British Columbia. 4 Therefore we do not see the New Westminster frank used in conjunction with any of the Victoria franks on postal covers. That situation, however, did not apply to express covers. Figure 7 shows an 1861 double-frank use carried by express companies in the then independent colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. The top envelope originated with Ballou s Fraser River Express on the mainland. William Ballou had taken his unused franked envelopes to the New Westminster post office, paid the five cent charge mandated by British Columbia s Express Statutes and had the envelope franked with the double-oval New Westminster frank. Ballou carried the top envelope to Victoria and turned it over to Wells Fargo. Wells Fargo pasted their own printed frank envelope, already bearing Vancouver Island s VICTORIA PAID V.I. frank, to the back (now separated for display purposes). The Wells Fargo envelope paid not only the required Vancouver Island postage but the three cent star die embossed envelope satisfied the U.S. statutes requiring express companies to pay government postage even though their envelopes seldom entered the government mail. The two envelopes pasted back to back were turned over to Tracy s Express at Portland. From September 15, 1860, the California Stage Company was operating daily stages from Portland south on what is now the Interstate-5 corridor. Wells Fargo did not carry express on the stage line at this date and operated only by ship from Portland. Tracy s Express carried mail on the daily southbound stages and turned the cover over to Beekman s Express at Jacksonville, Oregon near the California border. There are no Beekman markings present but he was the only express operating between Jacksonville, Oregon and Yreka, California in Beekman turned the cover back over to Wells Fargo at Yreka, who then turned it over at San Francisco to Bamber & Co s Express for delivery to Alameda County. Although this paste-up use never entered a government postal system, three governments were compensated. Ballou collected the express fee in the Fraser River Mines. It is doubtful if this fee was shared with the other carriers. Express companies often had reciprocal arrangements with connecting expresses if the cover had originated in San Francisco, Wells Fargo would have collected the fee had it originated in Oregon, Tracy or Beekman would have collected the fee. We have never seen another cover carried by five western express companies and believe this is one of the greatest western express uses. Postal historians seek rational explanations for unusual uses like B.C.&V.I. doublefrank covers, but we must remember that the early postal systems in B.C.&V.I. were pretty much seat-of-the-pants operations which did not always operate rationally. The lack of handstamp cancelling devices and datestamps in Victoria meant handstamp franks were often used to cancel adhesive stamps. The use of handstamp franks after the issue of adhesive stamps was clearly not the best option. Postmasters like Victoria s infamous John D Ewes used handstamp franks instead of adhesive stamps and pocketed the money collected, with no record- PHSC Journal 158 Summer

8 keeping to stop them. Had adhesive stamps been required, postmasters would have had to account for every stamp sold. Some of the double-frank uses illustrated above make little logical sense, but they are an interesting facet of B.C.&V.I. postal history. The authors would be interested to see other examples. note: Figures 1 and 2 are at 75%. All other covers are at 100%. references 1. For a census of known examples see: Wallace, J. and Forster, D. Vancouver Island s Custom Seal, PHSC Journal 112, December A. S. Deaville, The Colonial Postage Systems and Postage Stamps of Vancouver Island and British Columbia , Victoria, Deaville has this as #4 and our #4 as #5. 3. D. Forster, Paid, Unpaid, Collect, and Free Markings on BC&VI Mail, PHSC Journal 107, September 30, A. S. Deaville, The Colonial Postage Systems and Postage Stamps of Vancouver Island and British Columbia , Victoria, 1928, p.186. EDITOR WANTED The Postal History Society of Canada is looking for an EDITOR to edit and design its quarterly PHSC Journal. Are You Searching for a Challenge? Would You Like to Share Your Talents? The right person will be a team player working with our Editorial Committee, will have good design and layout skills, a proficiency in Indesign or similar page layout programs. Candidates will exhibit strong editorial skills, be self-motivated, and have good organizational skills. The position is rewarding and offers many opportunities to expand your appreciation of this great hobby. Interested? Then... Please apply to the president president@postalhistorycanada.net 10 PHSC Journal 158 Summer 2014