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Ethiopian Stamps, Postal History and Ephemera
የኢትዮጵያ ቴምብሮች፣ የፖስታ ታሪክ እና ኢፌሜራ።
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Philatelic Cover. Backdated 18 June 1917 Addis-Ababa R.P. (Payne AA8A) cancel.
Cover is addressed to: Honorable Ato Wondomegenon Hanna, Harar
Philatelic Cover. Backdated 18 June 1917 Addis-Ababa R.P. (Payne AA8A) cancel.
Cover is addressed to: Musie Zervos, Jimma
Philatelic Cover. Backdated 18 June 1917 Addis-Ababa R.P. (Payne AA8A) cancel.
Cover is addressed to: Ato Gebre Giorgis Desta, Nekemte Town
External letter sent from Addis-Abbeba to Bern, Switzerland.
3 August 1917 (Payne AA4B) cancel. French Censor handstamp in black: OUVERT Par l’AUTORITÉ MILITAIRE; Control Number 304. 12 October 1917 Bern receiver.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
72 days transit time.
All Stamps Bear Inverted Overprints External registered letter sent from Adis Abeba to Quimper, France and forwarded to nearby Penmarch, France.
13 August 1917 Adis Abeba Payne AA1) cancel.
French Censor OUVERT Par l’AUTORITÉ MILITAIRE Control Number 303 handstamp in black. French Censor tape CONTROLE POSTAL MILITAIRE.
11 September 1917 Quimper receiver. 19 September 1917 Quimper transit. 19 September Finistere receiver.
4 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerches first weight unit (up to 20 grams) + 2 Guerches registration fee.
Transit time was 37 days.
Madame Maure was the wife of the Addis Ababa Postmaster during this time period.
Fraudulent cover. Internal letter sent from Adis Abeba to Dire Daoua.
9 October 1917 Adis Abeba (Payne AA1) cancel. 10 October 1917 Diré-Daoua (Payne DDA4) receiver.
5 Guerches over pays the expected 1 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams) for internal letters. 5G would imply this was a triple weight letter = 1G + 2 extra weight units at 2G each.
Transit time was 1 day.
Albert Bousson was appointed as the postmaster of the Diré-Daoua post office. He arrived in Diré-Daoua on May 25, 1908. He spent the following 31 years in Ethiopia.
This cover was most likely produced by Theo Michaelides in the 1970s. He sometimes gave his customers who made substantial purchases of Ethiopian philatelic material a free cover as a bonus!
External registered letter sent from Harrar to Madrid, Spain.
12 October 1917 Harrar (Payne HR6C) cancel. 19 October 1917 Yokoama ŕ Marseille No.5 paquebot transit. Letter opened and resealed in France. 25? November 1917 Barcelona Certificado receiver.
10 Guerches = 2G first weight unit + 2G registration fee + 6G for extra weight units at 1G per weight unit.
The recipient is Miguel Gálvez Jiménez, a well known stamp dealer and author of the Cátalog Gálvez, a Spanish stamp specialty catalog.
External letter sent from Dire-Daoua to Aden Camp, Aden.
18 October 1917 Dire-Daoua (Payne DD4A) cancel. 11 November 1917 Aden transit. British PASSED CENSOR handstamp in violet applied in Aden.
Second 11 November 1917 Aden transit, different type than first. 12 November 1917 Aden Camp receiver.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time 15 days.
External letter sent from Addis-Abbeba to Aden.
23 December 1917 Arada-Addis-Abbeba (Payne AA5A) cancel. British censor hand stamp in violet: PASSED CENSOR, No. A 156. ?? ?? 1918 Aden Camp receiver.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time unknown.
External letter sent from Addis Abeba to Brighton, England.
22 January 1918 Addis Abeba (Payne AA4A) cancel.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time unknown.
External post card sent from Arada-Addis-Abbeba to Paris, France.
11 January 1918 (Payne AA5A) cancel.
1 Guerches pays the expected 1 Guerche post card rate.
Travel time unknown.
Le Vasseur et Cie. was a publisher located at 33 Rue de Fleurus in Paris. It was near 27 rue de Fleurus, the home of Gertrude Stein.
The text of the card reads: We had placed an order with you for two 1918 Almanach Hachette and pocket diaries if you have not sent them already. Please send everything in place of my assets that you have kept. Greetings. Mehran P. Hazarian
External letter sent from Arada-Addis-Abbeba to Calais, France.
18 January 1918 Arada-Addis-Abbeba (Payne AA5A) cancel. French censor OUVERT Par l’AUTORITÉ MILITAIRE, Control Number 304. CONTROL POSTAL MILITAIRE sealing tape.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Unknown transit time.
External letter, registered, sent from the Italian Consulate in Harrar to Rome, Italy.
25 January 1918 Harrar (Payne HR6A) cancel. 9 February 1918 Port Taufiq R transit. 9 February 1918 Port Said R transit. 26 February 1918 Genova Ferrovia transit. 27 February 1918 Rome receiver.
4 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams) + 2 Guerche registration fee.
Transit time 33 days.
External letter sent from Addis-Abbeba to Moudon, Switzerland.
18 February 1918 Addis-Abbeba (Payne AA4B) cancels on front and 18 February 1918 Direction Des Postes Ethiopiennes (Payne AA7) cancel on back.
French censor OUVERT Par l’AUTORITÉ MILITAIRE, Control Number 303. CONTROL POSTAL MILITAIRE sealing tape.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
72 days transit time.
Alfred Berdoz was an avid philatelist and had his preaddressed covers sent to him from all over the world.
This is the earliest documented usage of the Direction Des Postes Ethiopiennes (Payne AA7) cancel.
External letter sent from Addis Abbeba to Port Said, Egypt.
11 March 1918 Addis-Abbeba (Payne AA4B) cancel. 25 March 1918 Port Said receiver.
The following British hand stamp censor marks, all in black, were applied in Egypt: Pi in circle; OPENED BY CENSOR; and PASSED BY CENSOR. Blue-green OPENED BY CENSOR sealing tape.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time was 14 days.
Greek Consulate General Adis-Abbeba handstamps in violet.
External letter sent from Diré-Daoua to Larnaca, Cyprus.
23 March 1918 Diré-Daoua (Payne DD4A) cancel. British PASSED BY CENSOR censor hand stamp in black applied in Egypt. 7 May 1918 Port-Said B transit.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time unknown.
External letter, registered, sent from Harrar to Paris, France.
1916 04 15 Harrar (Payne HR6A) cancel.
4 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams) + 2G registration fee.
Transit time unknown.
Addressed to the Editorial Staff of the Newspaper "Le Journal.“ Le Journal was a Paris daily newspaper published from 1892 to 1944 in a small, four-page format.
External registered letter sent from Addis-Abbeba to Zurich and forwarded to Schwarzenberg, Lucerne, Switzerland.
5 July 1918 Addis-Abbeba (Payne AA4A) cancel. 15 August 1918 Zurich Brieftrager receiver. 18 August 1918 Schwarzenberg Luzern receiver.
4 Guerches pays the expected 2 first weight unit (up to 20 grams) + 2 registration fee.
Transit time was 42 days.
External letter sent from Diré-Daoua to London, England.
14 August 1918 Diré-Daoua (Payne DD4A) cancel. 28 August 1918 Port Said transit. British Pi shaped censor hand stamp in black applied in Egypt.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time unknown.
Alexander Von Glehn & Company, Ltd was an import and export company. In 1880, the famous Arthur Rimbaud Rimbaud arrived in Aden and took a job with Paul Bardey & Company sorting coffee beans. He subsequently moved to Harrar and managed Bradey's Ethiopian coffee enterprise.
Audacious Fake internal registered double weight cover sent from Harrar to Addis Ababa.
18 October 1918 Harrar (Payne HR6A) and indistinct Harrar (Payne HR5B) cancels. Irna? cancel on the pair of ˝ Guerche stamps.
4G pays the expected rate: 1G for the first weight unit + 1G for the second weight unit + 2G registration fee.
External letter, registered, sent from the Italian Consulate in Harrar to Rome Italy.
25 October 1918 (Payne HR6C) cancel. 9 November 1918 Port Said R transit. 21 November 1918 Roma receiver.
4 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams) + 2G registration fee.
Transit time was 27 days.
External letter sent from Dire- Daoua to St. Denis, France.
15 December 1918 Dire-Daoua (Payne DD4A) cancel. ? ? 1919 St. Denis Seine receiver.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time unknown.
External registered letter sent from Addis-Abbeba to Paris and forwarded to Rouen, France. Manuscript note in black ink: voir au dos ... see back.
17 January 1919 Addis-Abbeba (Payne AA4A) cancel. 14 ?? 1919 ROUEN SEINE-INFÉRIEURE receiver. The department Seine-Inférieure was changed to Seine-Maritime in 1955.
Addis-Abbeba (Sciaky Type 1) registration label printed on yellow paper.
4 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerches first weight unit (up to 20 grams) + 2 Guerches registration fee.
Unknown transit time.
External letter sent from Addis-Abbeba to Bern, Switzerland.
20 January 1919 (Payne AA4B) cancel.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time unknown.
Letter addressed to A. & W. Lindt, Fabrique de Chocolat. Rodolphe Lindt was the inventor of the conche machine that revolutionized chocolate making. In 1899, he sold rights to Chocolat Sprüngli AG. In 1905, Lindt and his cousins August and Walter Lindt left Sprüngli opened their own chocolate business in Berne and called it A&W Lindt. After a 20 year legal battle, Sprüngli was able to shut down the A&W Lindt factory. Haertel was a friend of postmaster J. A. Michel.
External letter sent from Addis-Abbeba to Bern, Switzerland.
7 February 1919 (Payne AA4B) cancel.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2G first weight unit (up to 20 grams). Violet, French censor OUVERT Par l’AUTORITÉ MILITAIRE, Control Number 109. Additional censor mark 19 in cyan.
Transit time unknown.
Letter addressed to A. & W. Lindt, Fabrique de Chocolat. Rodolphe Lindt was the inventor of the conche machine that revolutionized chocolate making. In 1899, he sold rights to Chocolat Sprüngli AG. In 1905, Lindt and his cousins August and Walter Lindt left Sprüngli opened their own chocolate business in Berne and called it A&W Lindt. After a 20 year legal battle, Sprüngli was able to shut down the A&W Lindt factory.
Letter is in the handwriting of Carl Haertel. Haertel was an architect working for the government of Ethiopia. He and his wife Anna, lived in Addis Abeba from 1906 - 1942. He worked on the Chemin de Fer; and he built Menelik’s Mausoleum and the Germany Embassy.
Internal post card sent from Harrar to Adis-Abeba.
24 February 1919 Harrar (Payne HR6C) cancel.
1/2 Guerche overpays the expected 1/4 G internal post card rate by 1/4 Guerche.
Transit time unknown
Card is addressed to the prior postmaster, J. A. Michel, who returned to Europe in mid-1919.
Cover Front External letter sent from Arada-Addis-Abbeba to Huddersfield, England.
28 February 1919 (Payne AA5A) cancel.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time unknown.
Groves & Lindley were a cloth and clothing merchant located at 110 The Lions Buildings, Station Street, Huddersfield. Today they are the merchanting division of Schofield & Smith.
S&S has manufactured wool and tweed suit and jacket materials since 1904.
External post card sent from Addis-Abbeba to Boston, Massachusetts.
28 March 1919 Arada-Addis Abbeba (Payne AA5A) cancel. 19 May 1919 Boston, Mass, Back Bay Station receiver.
Forwarded to Batchelder in care of the Far Eastern Division, Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC.
1/2 Guerche pays the expected 1/2 G external post card rate.
Transit time was 52 days to Boston.
Card is addressed Charles C Batchelder. He was The Acting Commercial Attaché at Peking to the Director of the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, Department of Commerce.
External letter sent from Addis-Abbeba to Basil (Bâle), Switzerland.
14 April 1919 Addis-Abbeba (Payne AA4B) cancel.
2 Guerches pays the expected 2 Guerche first weight unit (up to 20 grams).
Transit time unknown.
Klingelbergstrasse is a street located in Basil’s St. Johann Quarter and crosses the Rhine River via the Johanniterbrücke bridge.