The Registered Letter Crayon.

I had always presumed the crayon used in the Registered Letter regime
was to serve as a "seal" to indicate prior opening, and or as a quick
reference as to the letter's status.
Am I correct here?
I include a snap of a cover that brings a new meaning to "Back-Stamping"
but raised the curiosity of the crayon mark.
Surely the stamps on the back had no real purpose other than to seal?

http://groups.msn.com/Stamps/shoebox...to&PhotoID=201
--

(Remove gum to reply)

1/16/2004 6:50 AM


I had always presumed the crayon used in the Registered Letter regime
was to serve as a "seal" to indicate prior opening, and or as a quick
reference as to the letter's status.
Am I correct here?

I don't think it was a "seal" as such. Often the marks don't even go to the
edges of the cover. My understanding is that the practice of marking a blue
cross on registered letters stemmed from earlier times when a blue ribbon
was tied around a registered letter to show its special status, the "quick
reference as to the letter's status" that you indicate.

The use of the registration cross seems mainly to have been in the British
Empire. The drawing of the cross was usually done quickly and sloppily by
hand, using a dull pencil or crayon, but I have some covers which show that
rulers and sharp pencils were used. Commercial covers often had the lines
printed on them, along with the "R-in-the-oval" registration mark, which is
more often seen as a handstamp. See
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/jamaicafront.jpg. I have one Australian cover
with red lines rather than blue.

Bob Ingraham

-------
A Spanish airmail stamp issued in 1930 commemorates Charles Lindbergh's epic
solo flight from New York to Paris. Its design includes an image of a cat
watching Lindbergh's aircraft, the Spirit of St. Louis. A cat? Why!? Find
the answer at http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/philpuzzle1.html.
-------


I include a snap of a cover that brings a new meaning to "Back-Stamping"
but raised the curiosity of the crayon mark.
Surely the stamps on the back had no real purpose other than to seal?

It's hard to imagine anyone using stamps as seals rather than postage. I
expect the use was dual, serving both as postage *and* seals. Many countries
allowed or even seem to have required that stamps be placed on the backs of
covers. It's very common on Greek covers.

Bob

http://groups.msn.com/Stamps/shoebox...to&PhotoID=201
--

(Remove gum to reply)

"Rodney" wrote in message
...

I had always presumed the crayon used in the Registered Letter regime
was to serve as a "seal" to indicate prior opening, and or as a quick
reference as to the letter's status.
Am I correct here?
I include a snap of a cover that brings a new meaning to "Back-Stamping"
but raised the curiosity of the crayon mark.
Surely the stamps on the back had no real purpose other than to seal?

http://groups.msn.com/Stamps/shoebox...to&PhotoID=201
--

(Remove gum to reply)

It looks to me that the stamps affixed on the back were to "seal" the
letter, and prevent tampering. This is done at the choice of the sender,
and is not a postal requirement. In the past, people used red wax to
achieve the same result. The blue crayon, I believe, is to highlight the
letter as Registered. Registered postal stationery in the British
Commonwealth had the blue lines printed on the envelope. Plain envelopes
had the blue crayon added at the post office.

Tony

"Bob Ingraham" wrote in message
...
1/16/2004 6:50 AM


I had always presumed the crayon used in the Registered Letter regime
was to serve as a "seal" to indicate prior opening, and or as a quick
reference as to the letter's status.
Am I correct here?

I don't think it was a "seal" as such. Often the marks don't even go to
the
edges of the cover. My understanding is that the practice of marking a
blue
cross on registered letters stemmed from earlier times when a blue ribbon
was tied around a registered letter to show its special status, the "quick
reference as to the letter's status" that you indicate.

The use of the registration cross seems mainly to have been in the British
Empire. The drawing of the cross was usually done quickly and sloppily by
hand, using a dull pencil or crayon, but I have some covers which show
that
rulers and sharp pencils were used. Commercial covers often had the lines
printed on them, along with the "R-in-the-oval" registration mark, which
is
more often seen as a handstamp. See
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/jamaicafront.jpg. I have one Australian cover
with red lines rather than blue.

Bob Ingraham

Bob, do you realize that the envelope you illustrated has an error on it.
The R label spells the place as Montigo Bay, whereas the postmark spells it
Montego Bay, which is what my atlas shows.

Tony


S N I P

Bob Ingraham wrote in message
...
1/16/2004 6:50 AM


I had always presumed the crayon used in the Registered Letter regime
was to serve as a "seal" to indicate prior opening, and or as a quick
reference as to the letter's status.
Am I correct here?

- snip -


I don't think it was a "seal" as such. Often the marks don't even go to
the
edges of the cover. My understanding is that the practice of marking a
blue
cross on registered letters stemmed from earlier times when a blue ribbon
was tied around a registered letter to show its special status, the "quick
reference as to the letter's status" that you indicate.

The use of the registration cross seems mainly to have been in the British
Empire. The drawing of the cross was usually done quickly and sloppily by
hand, using a dull pencil or crayon, but I have some covers which show
that
rulers and sharp pencils were used. Commercial covers often had the lines
printed on them, along with the "R-in-the-oval" registration mark, which
is
more often seen as a handstamp. See
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/jamaicafront.jpg. I have one Australian cover
with red lines rather than blue.

For what it's worth the drawing of a cross has never
applied to Danish registered mail, but only for special
delivery, such as "Delivery on Sunday". Sample he

http://w1.1429.telia.com/~u142900362...Cover-1939.jpg

The letter is crossed diagonally, and has the indication
"Søndagsbrev" [Sunday Delivery] in the lower left and
right corners.

Sunday Deliveries is a specialized area of Danish philately,
which also includes dovers with printed diagonal lines.

"Backside postage" may be still be found on Danish
letters, even modern covers, but is rare. It is always
part of the ordinary postage, and it must be marked
on the front side of the letter that supplementary postage
is on the backside ... ;-)

Mette
--
Ann Mette Heindorff (Mette)
return address invalid -- contact me through
heindorffstamps at yahoo dot dk
http://arthistory1.school.dk

On Fri, 16 Jan 2004 15:34:01 GMT, Bob Ingraham
wrote:

I don't think it was a "seal" as such. Often the marks don't even go to the
edges of the cover. My understanding is that the practice of marking a blue
cross on registered letters stemmed from earlier times when a blue ribbon
was tied around a registered letter to show its special status, the "quick
reference as to the letter's status" that you indicate.

The use of the registration cross seems mainly to have been in the British
Empire. The drawing of the cross was usually done quickly and sloppily by
hand, using a dull pencil or crayon, but I have some covers which show that
rulers and sharp pencils were used. Commercial covers often had the lines
printed on them, along with the "R-in-the-oval" registration mark, which is
more often seen as a handstamp. See
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/jamaicafront.jpg. I have one Australian cover
with red lines rather than blue.

Bob Ingraham

================================================== ==================

Bob:

You are correct about the origin of the blue cross on registered
mail of Great Britain and countries of the British Empire /
Commonwealth. [I have not seen it used elsewhere.]

The crossed blue ribbons were "tied" to the cover by means of
red sealing wax which was then embossed with the sender's seal.

Back in the 1960s the blue ribbons had gone, but the blue cross
was printed on the cover. In the 60's I still got Registered Mail
from Stanley Gibbons with the envelope flap sealed in a similar
manner.

Blue Cross Cover
http://www.stampwhiz.com/061218bahamascc.jpg

One final note of interest.

You will find, on rare occasions, similar covers with ONE
vertical blue mark (front and back). These were used for
Special Delivery (Exprès) letters.

As postal technology progressed and the knowledge of postal
workers increased. The needs for such special service
indicators became redundant.

Blair




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Mmmmm. Thanks to all, interesting stuff.
and thanks Blair, for the other posts, esp
the L.N.Williams topic.
I just don't want to bore all with my repetetive
posts of "thank you"

Bob:

You are correct about the origin of the blue cross on registered
mail of Great Britain and countries of the British Empire /
Commonwealth. [I have not seen it used elsewhere.]

The crossed blue ribbons were "tied" to the cover by means of
red sealing wax which was then embossed with the sender's seal.

Back in the 1960s the blue ribbons had gone, but the blue cross
was printed on the cover. In the 60's I still got Registered Mail
from Stanley Gibbons with the envelope flap sealed in a similar
manner.

Blue Cross Cover
http://www.stampwhiz.com/061218bahamascc.jpg

Nice cover!

Usage of the blue cross lasted well beyond the 1960s. In my collection I
have a 1981 registered bank cover mailed from Great Britain to Komoka,
Ontario. (See the front here http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/registered1981.jpg
and the back here http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/registered1981back.jpg.)

It makes a nice companion piece to the Jamaican cover I posted earlier
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/jamaicafront.jpg. It's obvious that security
was an issue with both of these covers. Not only were they registered, they
were also made of very stiff cardboard and are rather like small vaults! It
would be interesting to know what type of documents (or currency?) they
contained.

Bob Ingraham

-------
An early United States stamp provided an interesting philatelic puzzle for
me. Learn about it at http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/philpuzzle3.html. It
will crack you up!
-------

On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 03:58:11 GMT, Bob Ingraham
wrote:

Bob:

You are correct about the origin of the blue cross on registered
mail of Great Britain and countries of the British Empire /
Commonwealth. [I have not seen it used elsewhere.]

The crossed blue ribbons were "tied" to the cover by means of
red sealing wax which was then embossed with the sender's seal.

Back in the 1960s the blue ribbons had gone, but the blue cross
was printed on the cover. In the 60's I still got Registered Mail
from Stanley Gibbons with the envelope flap sealed in a similar
manner.

Blue Cross Cover
http://www.stampwhiz.com/061218bahamascc.jpg

Nice cover!

Usage of the blue cross lasted well beyond the 1960s. In my collection I
have a 1981 registered bank cover mailed from Great Britain to Komoka,
Ontario. (See the front here http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/registered1981.jpg
and the back here http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/registered1981back.jpg.)

It makes a nice companion piece to the Jamaican cover I posted earlier
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/jamaicafront.jpg. It's obvious that security
was an issue with both of these covers. Not only were they registered, they
were also made of very stiff cardboard and are rather like small vaults! It
would be interesting to know what type of documents (or currency?) they
contained.

Bob Ingraham

These were standard registered mail envelopes using heavy card stock.
Different sizes were available.
http://i23.ebayimg.com/01/i/01/2b/92/b6_1.JPG

Blair



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For what it's worth the drawing of a cross has never
applied to Danish registered mail, but only for special
delivery, such as "Delivery on Sunday". Sample he

http://w1.1429.telia.com/~u142900362...Cover-1939.jpg

The letter is crossed diagonally, and has the indication
"Søndagsbrev" [Sunday Delivery] in the lower left and
right corners.

Sunday Deliveries is a specialized area of Danish philately,
which also includes dovers with printed diagonal lines.

Interesting, Mette. I had not heard of Danish "Sunday Delivery" covers
before. I have a web page about Sunday delivery in Belgium, which I should
think about expanding, especially since I now have several examples of
postcards with the same tabbed stamps. The web page is at
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/neveronsunday.html.

When I saw your post, I remembered that in my collection I have a cover with
the same diagonal lines, but it's a German wartime Luftfeldpost cover
franked with the 1942 military air post issue:
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/luftfeldpost.jpg. There are no readable dates,
and even if there were it would be impossible to say what day it was
delivered on. But would the diagonal lines indicate a request for Sunday
delivery?

I assume that Germany, nominally a Christian country during the war,
recognized the Sabbath. There were even "Christian" Nazi churches which
presumably had Sunday as their day of worship. Does anyone know anything
about this?

Bob

-----
Putting Hitler in his place -- My discovery of an old, empty approval
envelope from the Jamestown Stamp Company leads to the creation of two album
pages, and a web page: http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/onapproval.html.
-----