1940 WWII postage dues taxed Palestine Army letter, no postal concession

Description: Rare - taxed WWII army mail: 16 Aug 1940 postmarked local HAIFA commercial cover, sent stampless on OHMS official mail postal stationary from the "Orderly Room" of the Queens Own Yorkshire Dragoons (oval cachet on front) to a local business & separately endorsed "DRLS" in manuscript at the top. The cover was taxed by the civilian post office the same day for twice the deficient postage of 7 mils & charged 14m using 2x postage dues stamps. Rare postal history: research by the cataloger has shown that the free mail postal concession to the British Army is observed from about 30 Aug 1940; here this cover was posted postage-free 2 weeks prior, and taxed as not eligible for free mail - neither as "official mail" or as "army mail". In this instance the cover was handled by the army as express mail and transported by the Signal Corp's "Despatch Rider Letter Service" (DRLS; also known as the Express Letter Service, ELS), which functioned as a hand-carried motorcycled 'messenger service', generally used for official documents of a priority nature requiring quicker transportation than the standard Army Postal Service. This is rarely observed on private correspondence and when seen such this is usually on institutional mail - addressed to banks, municipal authorities or infrastructure administrations, etc. Although British Army Post Offices operated in Palestine since April 1940, in this case the cover was carried by the DRLS from the military unit and delivered to the civilian HAIFA head post office for ongoing transmission, where it was tied by the HPO's double ringed postmark & subsequently taxed for postage dues by a separate department with its single circle postmarks; the cover is tied at back by an instructional marking that a PT 514 form (informing the addressee of taxed correspondence for payment) was issued the same day. Opened roughly at top, complete. Important postal history both as rarely seen taxed army mail & also as this occurred just 2 weeks between the present earliest observed postage-free army mail in Palestine. The unit involved here was assigned at this time to the 1st Cavalry Division which was stationed in Palestine as a garrison force - that designation, as opposed to be a front-line or "active service" unit, may be the reason why the cover ineligible for free postage either as official mail or Army mail & was taxed in full. --- Most of our merchandise ships out from Israel | orders are combined | additional items are charged 75c: DOMESTIC services available are Registered mail (default) and courier mail. Please contact us if you desire courier mail. BUYERS IN ISRAEL: eBay does not recognize Israel as being a "domestic" mailing destination - please contact us to be invoiced and charged $5 for registered mail. --- OVERSEAS services available are Priority ECO Post registered airmail (default - $15 flat fee) and express EMS mail (3-day / 5-day to-door delivery - $40 flat fee). These options can be selected on check-out. We recognize that the shipping overseas is expensive - only ECO Post shows tracking up to delivery; for less expensive purchases on the understanding of the customer that tracking is not available we can user $5 standard registered mail overseas - please contact us so we can invoice you at this rate. --- Prospective buyers in countries without postal relations with Israel can receive orders via a third country. Please contact us for this option. --- To see higher end specialized philatelic items + materials from countries which cannot be displayed on ebay, add d o t com to our our handle name

Price: 699 USD

Location: Jerusalem Israel

End Time: 2025-01-15T07:02:00.000Z

Shipping Cost: 12 USD