Termite Mail Of German Southwest Africa

I recently won three lots at Cherrystone's Al Kugel sale. Here's the highlight lot.

In 1906, a mail runner that was carrying a bag of mail inbound to Windhuk, Deutsch-Südwestafrika, died along his route, and his body wasn't found for several months. In that time, termites ate into the bag and the mail. Following recovery of the mail bag, the surviving mail was taken to Windhuk, where an auxiliary marking was applied.

The marking reads "Sendung stammt aus einer am 4. d. Mts. bei Okasise aufgefundenen Briefpost die teilweise von Termiten beschädigt worden ist. Die näheren Umstände sind noch nicht bekannt. Windhuk, 5 August 1906. Postamt" (Mailing is part of a shipment of letters found on the 4th of this month near Okasise. The shipment was damaged in part by termites. Further details are not yet known. Windhuk, 5. August 1906. Post Office).

This postcard is 1 of 3 known surviving items with this marking.

Postmaster, I have heard of Windhoek, but even Google does not know where windhuk is


Peter

Neat cover.

Windhuk was the German spelling of Windhoek.

Fascinating - Thanks for sharing this Postmaster, it's super interesting.

I also like seeing how you handle mounting these historic pieces and the associated album page with the image of the other side.

What are you using to contain the card on the page? Is that something that can be lifted/flipped to see the reverse?

I've done something similar using large Showgard panes but I'm not satisifed with how that works.

It's a Smead Poly Pocket.