Where it was disinfected?

  • The letter shown here was sent from Lucerne on March 12th,1832 to Amsterdam. It passed through Rotterdam and was forwered by an agent on March 19th. The letter was twice slit in a V-like open angle. Did somebody knows were this pattern slit was used?

    Thanks for the help.

  • Dear Hedy,

    Thank you for showing this interesting item. Your letter was posted by the forwarder in Rotterdam. Unfortunately we don't know where the letter entered the Netherlands. The V-shaped slits are only the result of opening the letter. If you have a look at the article "GEZUIVERD" cachet of 1831/32 than you will notice that the three chisel slits applied to your letter looks the same as the letter disinfected at Brielle. I do not know for certain if other disinfection station in the Netherlands applied the same kind of slits.

    Kind regards,

    André


    Hedy_1832_NL.jpg

  • Dear Andre


    Thank you for your answer. I would like to hear your opinion why this letter did all the way to Brielle which was a port and treated mail from Great Britain? In this case no GEZUIVERD cachet despite it was a period that it was in use.

    Something I did not know, perhaps the routes were changed after the Belgian revolution.


    Regards

  • Dear Hedy,


    The letter had a written notice "per Steam Boat" which was crossed out. There are also no postal marks or notices about charges for the way from Lucerne to Rotterdam. There is also no indication that the letter was send to the forwarder by regular mail. I have two explanations how the letter received the forwarder in Rotterdam:

    1) the letter was carried privately

    2) the letter was sent (together with other letters) enclosed in a larger cover/letter to reduce the shipping costs

    We can only guess ...


    The lack of the "GEZUIVERD" or "Marine / Gezuiverd" cachet can be explained with the hectic in these frontier post offices / quarantine stations.


    Kind regards,

    André