Today in Postal History

Mauritius to Tahiti
November 26, 1919
It's hard to think of a more exotic pair of
islands to be connected than on this registered cover.
The 12 cent registered envelope was posted in Port Louis on Mauritius at 20°10'S
57°30'E.
There are three Port Louis CDS.
It was sent via Bombay, Australia, and New
Zealand to
Papeete
on Tahiti at 17°32'S
149°34'W where it arrived on March 4, 1920.
Such a routing would have been selected because of the reliability of
the
routes.
To help it on this long ocean voyage, a 15 cent
blue with
Multiple Crown CA watermark from 1910 was added (SG 189).
I've been trying to understand the pencilled
1127?
mark
after I guessed that it might mean an enclosure of 112 Fr..
I think it may be a pencilled registry serial number 1127.*
The next arrowhead figure appears to be an stamped marking of some sort.
The ink is a different color than the 1127 and the sides of the
arrowhead
are straight, finely formed, and of equal length.
I have no idea what such a mark might mean.
Suggestions, anyone?
*This analysis was prompted by input from Bill
Burch
who also queried the routing.
Thanks, Bill, for the input.
Today in Postal History
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Pastnotes
Index - The First 300 and the Next 208
provides more tidbits about stamps and collectors.
Comments? Send me an e-mail
Please include a reference to this item.