Galerie

 

2 THE HARBOUR POST OFFICE

2.1 THE EXCHANGE OF MAIL WITH OVERSEAS COUNTRIES
November 1920. Overprinted Austrian parcel card for insured parcels used in Danzig for a 4½ kg parcel sent to Jedlinsk. In Danzig 3 marks postage due was
levied for harbour rights and 2 marks for customs clearance. A form attached to the back at the Customs Post Office Aleksandrów, shows further fees of 30
marks for onward postage, repackaging and customs charges. Boxed handstamp WOLNO OD CŁA, an official seal and a ALEKSANDRÓW cds 24 November
1920 of the Customs Post Office. Adapted Austrian JEDLINSK cds from which the German name had been removed dated 3 December 1920, the day the card
was sent to the addressee In March 1920 the first Polish Post Office, Forwarding Post Office Gdańsk Nowy Port, was opened in the Port of Danzig. The office became responsible for the exchange of mailbags and parcels between Poland and overseas countries. The vast majority of these parcels were from America, which did not use the European system of cards to accompany a parcel. The Nowy Port Office, consequently, generated an auxiliary parcel card to accompany the parcel to its destination. On these parcel cards the costs for transport, harbour rights, unloading, repackaging and customs clearance were calculated. Initially, a wide range of postal forms was used as auxiliary parcel cards because no definitive Polish parcel cards were available.
Often the left part of the form was given to the addressee as a receipt at the moment of paying the dues and collecting the parcel.

In May 1920 the first two handstamps, with small characters, were introduced for use in connection with the exchange of parcels with the USA. The handstamp Z AMERYKI PRZEZ GDAŃSK NR... indicated the origin and the number of the parcel. The second handstamp effectively served as a proforma on which to calculate the postage due that the recipient had to pay for the parcel handling service in Danzig.

June 1920. German parcel card used in Danzig for a 5 kg parcel to Opoczno. Boxed WOLNO OD CŁA (Free of duty), an official seal and manuscript date 16/6 920 of the Aleksandrów customs post office. OPOCZNO ZIEMIA RADOMSKA IIb arrival cds 25 June 1920 on the reverse and a PARADYZ OPOCZNO cds used when the parcel was collected.

Because of the large quantity of parcels that had to be handled, an additional handstamp was introduced in August 1920, now with larger characters and with all the text together.

November 1920. Overprinted Austrian parcel card for insured parcels used in Danzig for a 4½ kg parcel sent to Jedlinsk. In Danzig 3 marks postage due was levied for harbour rights and 2 marks for customs clearance. A form attached to the back at the Customs Post Office Aleksandrów, shows further fees of 30 marks for onward postage, repackaging and customs charges. Boxed handstamp WOLNO OD CŁA, an official seal and a ALEKSANDRÓW cds 24 November 1920 of the Customs Post Office. Adapted Austrian JEDLINSK cds from which the German name had been removed dated 3 December 1920, the day the card was sent to the addressee.