Worldwide Instructional Marks, MISSENT, misrouting covers &c

norvic · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 01:18:53 am

I don't think this topic has its own thread - please move this to the right place if there is one, thanks.

I picked this up yesterday because of the Saudi stamp, and then noticed the ice Missent and then the Sydney transit mark. I've included the whole address, as written in red, the UK being added later, presumably in Sydney!

The correct address is
Brook House, Leighton Lane, Evercreech, Shepton Mallet, BA4 6DP
plus of course England or United Kingdom, or GB

admin · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 02:18:13 am

From another thread .. a "Missent to Chicago"

norvic · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 03:16:06 am

Here's one that I cadged from a customer when I was a postman! It's an old scan from my old website, which is why it isn't as big as it would be now. I've no idea where in this room the cover is! You can see at the foot the barcode shows 00147 for Norway, as well as 00144 for GB

admin · **Posted:** Mon Aug 10, 2009 03:25:29 am

Things I sold recently.

Australia Spectacular KGV "OHMS" unclaimed Registered War-time covers 1915-1917:

I can't imagine you can have many more facial instructional markings than on this lot. :lol:

The massive "PERTH" Red Registered labels.

All have dated violet "D.L.O. PERTH" cancels and other transit and return marks on face and/or reverse. And all kinds of additional instructional marks. "NOT KNOWN BY LETTER CARRIER", "UNKNOWN BY LETTER CARRIER" a dated "CALLED L.C.R." handstamp, "SECOND NOTICE", "ADVISED TO CALL G.P.O." and 2 different "UNCLAIMED" handstamps.

Dap · **Posted:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:54:19 pm

Greetings,

Great topic! These are really scarce items to find in commercial mail.

I have about twenty international missent covers found during the last 17 years that I have processed commercial mail for my charity group. For most of the pieces I have there is no obvious reason for the misdirection that has occurred.

Sadly with modern mail backstamps are rarely if ever applied so it can be difficult to piece together the journey taken with these items, especially if the envelope is window faced with the original destination no longer part of the cover!.

Anyhow, here are the best pieces that I have -

Singapore to Australia via Malaysia posted March 2001

Singapore to Australia via Thailand posted January 2002

Singapore to Australia via India posted March 2002

A windowface envelope without an original destination that I think went through Malaysia, Indonesia (JKT = Jakarta?) and China before being returned to sender in Australia in October 2003. I include it as the only item I have with two missent markings from two different countries.

New Zealand to Australia via Papua New Guinea posted in June 2004

Dubai to Australia via the Philippines posted June 2005

Hong Kong to Australia via Canada posted July 2005

UK to Australia via Brunei posted October 2007

Even more bizarre are items internally posted that somehow end up in the international mail stream. Here are a couple that I have -

Melbourne to Brisbane (Australia) via South Korea posted March 2004

Gold Coast to Gold Coast (Qld Australia) via Singapore posted November 2004.

regards,

David

jugoslavija_post · **Posted:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 13:26:38 pm

Found this in a box of "junk" at an estate sale:

Ormond · **Posted:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 20:53:45 pm

That is a great cover Erik.

Nice PARKES CAMP cds.

Ormond · **Posted:** Tue Aug 11, 2009 20:57:12 pm

Several instructional markings on this cover following my late grandfather after he was wounded in Tunisia in 1943.

admin · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 20:08:47 pm

Tassie_Stamps · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 22:21:30 pm

Very interesting thread!!!

admin · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 23:13:48 pm

Something nice I listed up for sale today - viewtopic.php?f=27&t=13725" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Image links inactive. Removed

PNG 1958 cover from a NUN in Bougainville to New York - not claimed & returned

From Sister Mary Irene, a missionary nun of the (Canadian!) Communities of the Sisters of St. Joseph (C.S.J) Sohanu, Bougainville PNG, to blue blood address, Central Park South, New York.

An interesting enough origin/destination on its own, with commerical franking as you can see - from a tiny postal station, closed in 1970 and re-named from Buka Passage in 1949.

As you can see it gets better, UNCLAIMED with 2 line handstamp, 2 line violet "NOT AT ADDRESSES GIVEN" and then another violet handstamp over the adhesives

"RETOUR - INCONNU (= Return - unknown)
Not In Directory"

August 31, 1959 SOHANU cds on stamps.

When addressee not found, cover has a crisp Radio City Station, New York NY roller cancel on reverse of September 11.

GJ50 · **Posted:** Thu Aug 13, 2009 23:45:59 pm

Now we have some interesting routings for these.

All with Maldirige - Mis sent

ITALY to BERMUDA via INDIA !!!

UK to SYDNEY via BOMBAY - not as bad but wrong routing.

The TWO above postcards were on the same ship from Aden to bombay.

This last one is a beauty

Kas.... [town in India to LANDOUR - also in India
BUT they thought it was LONDON, so went to UK and back.

tonymacg · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 00:31:49 am

Gary, I'll lay a small wager that Indian card was sent from the hill station of Kasauli, and if memory serves, Landour was another hill station.

GJ50 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 00:40:42 am

tonymacg wrote:

Gary, I'll lay a small wager that Indian card was sent from the hill station of Kasauli, and if memory serves, Landour was another hill station.

Yes, a is the missing letter..........

It took a rather long journey.

norvic · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 00:43:37 am

GJ50 wrote:

This last one is a beauty

Kas.... [town in India to LANDOUR - also in India
BUT they thought it was LONDON, so went to UK and back.

Nice one GJ. The blue pencil endorsement looks like FMS = Foreign Mail Section, which could be London. But there are no other London marks. I wonder if, as they handstamped everything on the Bombay-Aden boat, it was actually intercepted en route to Aden, and sent back then?

GJ50 · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 00:45:57 am

norvic wrote:

Nice one GJ. The blue pencil endorsement looks like FMS = Foreign Mail Section, which could be London. But there are no other London marks. I wonder if, as they handstamped everything on the Bombay-Aden boat, it was actually intercepted en route to Aden, and sent back then?

Yes, that is quite possible. Still a lot further than hilltop to hilltop.

erich · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 06:45:44 am

This is the best bit of misrouting I've run into -- a cover to Valparaiso, Indiana that made an unintentional stop in Valparaiso, Chile:

norvic · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 07:27:55 am

I can't make out where it started from?

erich · **Posted:** Fri Aug 14, 2009 07:35:10 am

norvic wrote:

I can't make out where it started from?

Matacalpa, Nicaragua

Wolfgang · **Posted:** Fri Aug 21, 2009 22:46:58 pm

Nice cover from Eastern Germany to Italy returned to sender - 1978

Brummie · **Posted:** Sat Aug 22, 2009 00:26:07 am

Wolfgang I love the words in the lefthand corner 'sconosciuto dal portalettere' which means 'unknown by postman'. Those Italian posties know EVERYONE :lol:

Wolfgang · **Posted:** Sun Aug 23, 2009 02:05:11 am

Another nice cover with interesting instructional markings.

The cover was sent to a family making holidays on a camping ground.
Letter arrived too late.
So the cover was returned to the postoffice by the caretaker - official top left marking - and postmarked at the nearest postoffice.
An additional marking - lower left - tells "adressee left, new adress unknown."

norvic · **Posted:** Sun Aug 23, 2009 02:25:42 am

Wolfgang wrote:

An additional marking - lower left - tells "adressee left, new adress unknown."

Looks like laziness to me: whenever I camped in Europe I had to register with my address and passport number.

Lakatoi 4 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 23, 2009 21:10:07 pm

Now here's an apologetic marking for you. Sent from Little America in Antarctica on 31/1/34, arrived in San Francisco in 25/3/35 then finally sent on to Dunedin, NZ :!:

So I wonder what "Difficulties in Transportation" means :?:

GJ50 · **Posted:** Sun Aug 23, 2009 23:19:47 pm

Lakatoi 4 wrote:

Now here's an apologetic marking for you. Sent from Little America in Antarctica on 31/1/34, arrived in San Francisco in 25/3/35 then finally sent on to Dunedin, NZ :!:

So I wonder what "Difficulties in Transportation" means :?:

Missed the boat ?

norvic · **Posted:** Thu Sep 03, 2009 06:41:47 am

Canada - UK, via Sydney NSW

g]

A look at the whole card (note the printing details) provides a rather implausible reason for this diversion, but I can't think of another one:

sherro · **Posted:** Fri Sep 04, 2009 20:24:59 pm

This cover doesn't quite fit this thread (I don't think?), but it's too good not to share.

Posted in Epsom, Surrey Oct 14 1846, addressed to Gray's Inn, London. Re-directed to Staines, Middlesex, with the addition of an imperf 1d red for the additional postage, with an illegible London postmark. Subsequently re-directed to Chertsey, Surrey.

The backstamps are something to behold. All of this takes place on a cover measuring 10cm x 6.5cm

"Inactive image - Link deleted by Moderator"

sherro · **Posted:** Fri Sep 04, 2009 21:14:08 pm

Stirling, Scotland to British Columbia 1911. I'd suggest that this is quite an early handstamp

"Inactive image - Link deleted by Moderator"

sherro · **Posted:** Fri Sep 04, 2009 21:16:04 pm

The last one for now.

London to Sydney 1951. A real variety of annotations and handstamps, eventually getting to the Dead letter Office. Any thoughts on what the black "67" and the "C" in the lozenge mean?

"Inactive image - Link deleted by Moderator"

Ormond · **Posted:** Fri Jan 29, 2010 21:42:23 pm

Tasmania to Transvaal 1899
Unknown

INCONNU - ONBEKEND

rcfw · **Posted:** Wed Feb 03, 2010 07:00:28 am

This Belgium Dec 1961 cover was missent to the wrong side of Borneo. Posted from Brussels. It travelled hundreds of kilometres on British controlled northern sector of North Borneo & Sarawak (In Malaysia now) - Jesselton (now known as Kota Kinabalu) 16/2/62, Kuching 22/2/62, Sibu 23/2/62 & Binatang 24/2/62 before returned back to Sender. Had the sender written the country name Indonesia, it would have no problem reaching the correct destination Sintang on the Indonesian side of Borneo.

I can't make out the front section of Belgian slogan postmark ....Afrikaanse Loterij Zijn Vrij Van Taksen. Can anybody help?
Also, can anyone advise where were the Instructional handstamps "Return to Sender" & " Unknown At" likely to be applied? In Binatang, Sibu or Kuching?
Can anyone read the handwriting at the front "...2.0.2."?

norvic · **Posted:** Wed Feb 03, 2010 07:21:45 am

rcfw wrote:

I can't make out the front section of Belgian slogan postmark ....Afrikaanse Loterij Zijn Vrij Van Taksen. Can anybody help?

If it were more recent once could guess at a warning against Lottery and other scams from Nigeria...... :lol:

I think it is something like 'Winnings from the African Lottery are Tax-Free', the lottery probably covering Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi - just a guess. Pity we can't see the French!

rcfw · **Posted:** Wed Feb 03, 2010 09:08:25 am

Hi norvic.

Thanks for your helpful comment...clearer to me now, as I've not thought of the former Belgian colonies in Africa. I had earlier did do a google translation check on the dutch wordings that are readable & it translated as "African Lottery be exempt from fees" that got me curious & wanting to know the full slogan as I wondered why would a Belgian postmark have such strange slogan like that!

lithograving · **Posted:** Thu Feb 04, 2010 08:38:49 am

This one was addressed properly to Sydney,NS NOVA SCOTIA in Canada but I believe it went to Sydney AUSTRALIA.

Catweazle · **Posted:** Sat Feb 13, 2010 14:35:06 pm

Here's one I had posted on the Nice Covers thread that was sent to us from England, and got missent to Bermuda (no wonder it took weeks to get here!)

norvic · **Posted:** Tue Apr 27, 2010 21:07:02 pm

Here's a marking that I really like, even though I can't make it all out. Before I show the whole cover, can anybody tell me what the first two lines are? Is line 2 "Adresse illisible" (unreadable) ? Line 1 might therefore be "Retour". The last two lines are asking for the address to be written in Latin characters (with 'latins' correctly pluralised, but 'caractere(S)' not!)

And would anybody like to guess which country it was applied in ?

davo · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 11:42:00 am

Lithograving, You are correct about the 'Insufficiently Addressed' cover being sent to Sydney Australia.

An example of this handstamp has been recorded as Type 13, No.46 in "102 Reasons, Instructional Postal Markings of NSW" by Richard Peck, published 1992. Unfortunately no date of usage.

Uncommon use of this handstamp as perhaps a missent handstamp should have been used for international mail.

lithograving · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 11:50:14 am

davo wrote:

Lithograving, You are correct about the 'Insufficiently Addressed' cover being sent to Sydney Australia.

An example of this handstamp has been recorded as Type 13, No.46 in "102 Reasons, Instructional Postal Markings of NSW" by Richard Peck, published 1992. Unfortunately no date of usage.

Uncommon use of this handstamp as perhaps a missent handstamp should have been used for international mail.

Well thank you for confirming this Davo, now I can be certain that it was indeed first sent to Australia. I didn't think it was applied in Canada since it wasn't bilingual.

indieguy · **Posted:** Wed May 12, 2010 23:03:02 pm

Swaziland Postal Bureau Cover - Missent to Kenya

muruk · **Posted:** Thu May 13, 2010 01:33:49 am

About 45 years ago I sent a letter from Noojee Post Office, Victoria, Australia to the chief botanist on Kerguelen. Postmaster calculated the rate at "rest of world" and accepted the letter for mailing. Never did get a reply. Would make an interesting cover now ... anyone got it?

norvic · **Posted:** Mon May 17, 2010 00:36:55 am

norvic wrote:

Here's a marking that I really like, even though I can't make it all out. Before I show the whole cover, can anybody tell me what the first two lines are? Is line 2 "Adresse illisible" (unreadable) ? Line 1 might therefore be "Retour". The last two lines are asking for the address to be written in Latin characters (with 'latins' correctly pluralised, but 'caractere(S)' not!)

And would anybody like to guess which country it was applied in ?

As I've been away for a while, but nobody has made a guess at this, I'll bump it and show the full cover when I have caught up with my emails for the last 4 days.

Stampdog · **Posted:** Sat Jun 05, 2010 14:08:50 pm

(Image deleted by inactive member or photobucket)

This one is a bit of an oddity. Posted airmail from the UK with $1.08 worth of Australian stamps on it. The good folks at the GPO diverted to surface mail, obliterating the airmail sticker with five red lines. It was delivered untaxed it seems. Maybe they thought waiting a couple of months for your airmail letter was punishment enough.

jugoslavija_post · **Posted:** Sat Jun 05, 2010 14:15:40 pm

norvic wrote:

Here's a marking that I really like, even though I can't make it all out. Before I show the whole cover, can anybody tell me what the first two lines are? Is line 2 "Adresse illisible" (unreadable) ? Line 1 might therefore be "Retour". The last two lines are asking for the address to be written in Latin characters (with 'latins' correctly pluralised, but 'caractere(S)' not!)

And would anybody like to guess which country it was applied in ?

As I've been away for a while, but nobody has made a guess at this, I'll bump it and show the full cover when I have caught up with my emails for the last 4 days.

France?

Catweazle · **Posted:** Sat Jun 05, 2010 18:26:46 pm

norvic wrote:

Here's a marking that I really like, even though I can't make it all out. Before I show the whole cover, can anybody tell me what the first two lines are? Is line 2 "Adresse illisible" (unreadable) ? Line 1 might therefore be "Retour". The last two lines are asking for the address to be written in Latin characters (with 'latins' correctly pluralised, but 'caractere(S)' not!)

And would anybody like to guess which country it was applied in ?

Yes, that's correct - "Address unreadable, write the address in latin characters." Not sure what the third word is though, priore/prlore/priere? Probably not "priere" - that's prayer

Although, sometimes people say "Pray, get that" or, as the white witch of Narnia says: "And pray, who are you?" So maybe it means "Pray, write the address in latin characters!"

Which suggests to me it's the address would be written perhaps in Asian or Eastern European characters, and the french postman can't read it. Although, that's not to say it was posted in France, perhaps another francophone country? New-Caledonia, Canada, Algeria... the list goes on...

nigelc · **Posted:** Sat Jun 05, 2010 23:39:20 pm

Catweazle wrote:

So maybe it means "Pray, write the address in latin characters!"

Spot on Catweazle! Or more simply, "Please write the address in Latin characters."

norvic · **Posted:** Mon Jun 14, 2010 01:08:15 am

Sorry - I've been away for another week :lol:

The mark wasn't applied in France, French is the language used on international mail markings. What is odd that I would have expected it to be returned to sender for the address to be written in Latin characters. Even more odd is that it is written in Latin characters, although not very well. The item was sent to the UK from Lithuania, possibly when it was still part of the USSR (I can't remember the year of this item and can't read it on the image (and I don't know where it is!)

The address is:

19 Bunyan Avenue
South Shields
Tyne & Wear
NE34 9HZ
To: Mr Martin Jorgensen

Frank E Ring · **Posted:** Mon Jun 14, 2010 05:38:25 am

Here's an example of how postal services could once be used to convey messages that mattered.

Cover addressed to Santa Claus, Finland, missent to Nicosia, Cyprus, in November 1974, where the following boxed message, applied in red ink, speaks its own tale of peace, love, and Christmas presents:

HELP THE PEOPLE OF CYPRUS
220.000 REFUGEES ARE HOMELESS

manfaefife · **Posted:** Thu Jun 24, 2010 09:10:14 am

Nice Returned to sender hand with Unclaimed at PO wayne Pa also at the foot Not oak lane Philadelphia instructional mark.

reddies · **Posted:** Fri Aug 27, 2010 19:41:25 pm

.Envelope with a "Busy back".

asmodeus · **Posted:** Fri Aug 27, 2010 20:06:26 pm

Insufficiently Stamped


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Worldwide Instructional Marks, MISSENT, misrouting covers &c

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