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Krause Decipners Cover Quiz

The new Report No. 72 has again been read with interest, and thanks for writing about the Arge get-together in May. Now I would like to try my gray cells for the Cover Quiz [Pg.26], though I feel able to give only a fragmentary reply.

The registered airmail letter was posted at Zoppot on 29 Nov. 1938, between 8 and 9 PM. Then follows a transit cancel of Danzig 5 of the same date at 9 to 10 PM. The English stamp Registered of 3 December should best be explained by a trained Englishman; maybe Cues could help. Anyhow, the English postman tried without success to deliver the letter and wrote his “not known as addressed” on the reverse side.

The stamps INCONU on the back and RETOUR on the face side were added, the London address struck out in red ink and the return destination DANZIG, also in red, added. The blue cross, qualifying the registered letter, was apparently set in London for the return despatch, same as the ink-written FI.11577 beneath the Zoppot R-label. Regrettably, I have no explanation for the blue numbers 743 (crossed out) and 800.

A riddle to me are the Danzig return arrival cancels of the 4th of December; the hours do not fit into my solution. The earlier hour should be that of Danzig 5 as the transit cancel and the later hour of Danzig 1 as the final delivery office. An explanation would be that the postman at Danzig 5 (at the central railway station) was a bit ahead of time (19-20 hrs.) whereas the postman at Danzig 1, situated half a mile away (on the Langgasse), had not yet upgraded the hour on his cancel (18 hrs).

The next task was to identify the sender. So the letter found its way to the Landespostdirektion, where it was officially opened. The inscription on the three labels over the edge reads: Zur Ermittlu/ng des A/bsenders amtlich geffnet. Landespostdirektion Danzig. Translation: Officially opened in order to ascertain the sender. The State Post Directory, Danzig. The sender’s name as then written in red ink: Abs. [=sender] Dr. Rosenthal, Ruckertstr. 10. But they ran into bad luck again - the Danzig postman could not deliver on 8 December when he wrote Nicht angetroff en (not met at home). Let’s hope the sender finally got his letter back. But who did cancel the airmail label? Was it by London or Danzig red ink? Try a chemist’s analysis!
- Eddie Krause
Hamburg

 

Danzig Report Vol. 1 - Nr. 73 - October - November - December - 1991, Page 17.