Memoir 12

Surcharged mail and the Postage Due Stamps of Northern Rhodesia 1924-64

Plot

1. Introduction 1
2. 1929-52 issues 12
The number of stamps printed and the papers used 17
Marginal markings 20
Perforation 24
Watermark varieties 25
Other varieties 26
Bisects 27
3 The Federal period 30
4. 1963 issue 35
5. Postage stamps used as postage due labels 44
6. References 49
Appendix 1; A listing of covers bearing bisected postage due stamps 51
Appendix II; The postage due stamps inscribed 'ZAMBIA' 52
Index 53
Tables 17
1 The printings, the number of sheets printed and the total number of stamps 17
2 The number of sheets supplied to the Crown Agents' Stamp Bureau
Figures
Frontispiece The top row from sheets of all four duties, sheet numbers '001', from a pre-war printing, possibly the first. Note that all three margins on all four strips are perforated through (courtesy of Patrick Flanagan)
1 An exceptional underpaid letter addressed to Nkana posted at Croydon Aerodrome on '9 JU / 36', and forwarded by air via Broken Hill. Payment of a charge of 1s was receipted at Nkana on '18JUNI36' with four denominations of the postage due stamps (Peetoom Collection) 3
2 Horizontal pairs of the 1 d and 3d duties from an early printing on a commercial cover addressed to Ndola. Strikes of the Ndola datestamp record receipt on '-5 MAR 34A'. The cover was posted in Cape Town, found to weigh more than half an ounce, and handstamped '10D' to indicate the amount to be paid by the addressee. This instruction was cancelled with three strikes of the barred-oval canceller coded '947', and the '8D, handstamp struck (Peetoom Collection) 4
3 Examples of early usage of postage due stamps on underpaid mail from Southern Rhodesia posted in August 1932 and January 1934 (courtesy of Patrick Flanagan) 5
4 The message on this Canadian inland postal stationery card used internationally claims that Craig Harbour, where the card was posted on 'AU 26 / 38', was the most northerly post office in the British Empire. It was also the site of an office of the Hudson Bay Company, and was visited only once a year by their ships to bring in and take out mail, supplies and furs (courtesy of Danny Swart) 5
5 1 d and 3d duties on surfaced paper on covers addressed to Kitwe and Fort Jameson. The labels were cancelled on '11 OC / 53', `SP 3' (1953) and '- 1 1X53' respectively (Peetoom Collection) 6