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"Pre-philatelic letters"

 

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PRE-PHILATELIC LETTERS
I intended with these few words, to inform how the Portuguese mail circulated
before the existence of the Postal Stamp in 1853.
The letters were delivered at the post office where they received a kind of dispatch stamp with the name of the Post Station or in rare cases this stamp was replaced by an handwritten name, extensive or shortened, of the same locality. The mail followed with a tax to be paid at the destination (any person to receive a letter had to pay the transport costs) and this fare to be paid was applied on the upper right corner of the letter - FIXED STAMP – stamped or manuscript. The stamps applied were always of the colour of the nominative stamp of the locality and if they were handwritten, generally were in the sepia colour (water ink colour used at that time). Some times occurred errors in the determination of the correct tax to pay. In these cases the post office addressee has to modify for plus or less the tax already applied, strikethrough the fixed stamp and applying the correct one. (Some times applied the stamp “EMENDOU-SE O PORTE " i.e. TAX CHANGED). When the tax was paid by de sender, it was applied the stamp “FRANCA or PAGOU O PORTE”. The FRANCA stamp was applied in the mail destined to free payment Entities. All the letters of the Public Service were tax free and presented to the centre in top the initials RS or SNeR. In the SEGURA letters (registered) the transport was paid by the sender and the employee of the post offices applied for beyond the stamp nominative of the locality, the SEGURA or SEGURO stamp or wrote SEGURO, SEGURA or SIGURA. Today many of the letters that had circulated with these postal marks and in virtue of the used colours, are extremely rare.
Here you can see some of those letters with postal marks at the time.
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# Segura Alonquer in blue - ALQ-S1
Letter from Alenquer to Azambuja in 13-04-1836 (extremely rare)

Segura Alonquer em azul - ALQ-S1 - Carta de Alenquer para Azambuja em 13-04-1836

# Segura Alonquer in green - ALQ-S1
Letter from Alenquer to Azambuja in 27-09-?? (Not in Catalog)

Segura Alonquer em verde - ALQ-S1- Carta de Alenquer para Azambuja em 27-09-??

#Segura V.F.DA RESTAURAÇAM - VFX-S2
Letter from V.F.de Xira to Azambuja in 22-10-1834 (Rare)

Segura V.F.DA RESTAURAÇAM - VFX-S2 - Carta de V.F.de Xira para Azambuja em 22-10-1834

#Barcellos green BCL 1 - Letter from Barcelos to Oporto in 20-06-1836

Barcellos verde . BCL 1 - Carta de Barcelos para o Porto em 20-06-1836

#Coimbra black - CBR 11 - Letter from Coimbra to Oporto in 10-10-1837

Coimbra preto - CBR 11 - Carta de Coimbra para o Porto em 10-10-1837

#Coimbra black - CBR 12 - Letter from Coimbra to Oporto

Coimbra preto - CBR 12 - Carta de Coimbra para o Porto

#Coimbra CBR 8 black - Letter from Coimbra to Oporto in 16-06-1827

Coimbra CBR 8 preto - carta de Coimbra para o Porto em 16-06-1827

#Guimarães GMR 1 green - Letter from Guimarães to Oporto in 20-05-1835

Guimarães GMR 1 verde - carta de Guimarães para o Porto em 20-05-1835

#Guimarães GMR 2 blue - Letter from Guimarães to Oporto in 14-04-1836

Guimarães GMR 2 azul - carta de Guimarães para o Porto em 14-04-1836

#Lamego LMG 3 blue - Letter from Lamego to Oporto in 29-08-1847 - Double tax (40 over 25)

Lamego LMG 3 azul - carta de Lamego para o Porto em 29-08-1847 - Duplo porte (40 sobre 25)

#Leiria LRA 2 blue  - Letter from Leiria to Alcobaça in 06-08-1845

Leiria LRA 2 azul  - Carta de Leiria para Alcobaça em 06-08-1845

#Lisboa LSB 10 blue - Letter from Lisbon to V.N. de Cerveira in 30-01-1841

Lisboa LSB 10 azul - Carta de Lisboa para V.N. de Cerveira em 30-01-1841

#Lisboa LSB 11 blue - Letter from Lisbon to Azambuja in 17-07-1839

Lisboa LSB 11 azul - Carta de Lisboa para Azambuja em 17-07-1839

Special Thanks to José Augusto Rodrigues

"Philatelic errors"

Erros Filatélicos - Portugueses Philatelic Stamps with printing Errors Philatelic Errors in Portuguese Stamps type CERES

 

Please do not hesitate to correct
my English spelling or grammar. E-mail me for questions or suggestions!

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