½¢ Stamp Overprinted "Postage Due"
Bertram W. H. Poole, Los Angeles, recently showed me a copy of the 1922-26 ½¢ Nathan Hale overprinted diagonally in one line, in black, "POSTAGE DUE." Mr. Poole found a few of the stamps in a lot purchased from the estate of a San Franciscan, who had been in the postal service, also a number of covers showing the stamps used to collect a fee of ½¢. He believes it may have been a provisional, hastily made up and pressed into service by the postmaster of San Francisco for a short time just prior to the issue of the regular postage due stamp of that denomination. Postmaster are frequently called upon to exercise their ingenuity and improvise a makeshift when rates change and there are no special stamps
available.
- George B. SloanePosted November 17, 1999
Sloane's Column
Stamps
May 22, 1937Editor's Note: How does a postman collect ½¢ Postage Due? Has anyone seen a single on cover? I can't remember seeing one, right off hand.
Index of 507 Notes from the Past
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