GB WWII Cover To Malaya

The cover is outside my area of collecting and will make its way to eBay but im curious about the cover, the 5/- is way over and was part refunded so it wouldn't be classed as a genuine usage?


The recipient A Nellis, Battery Sergeant Major' life is well documented, eventually captured in Singapore spending 43 months as a prisoner of war on the Burma/Siam death railway.

https://www.far-eastern-heroes.org...._the_demons/

Japan invaded on the 11th december so the addressee reported missing handstamp and returned to sender make sense although im not sure of dates the positions were abandoned.

japan invaded on the 8th, the cover was postmarked the 11th

Ash38, question...why wouldn't this cover be classified as a "genuine usage"? The cover looks authentic to me...but I could be wrong.

Do you mean to say that the sender did not use the correct postage stamps for the 1941 air mail rate at the time and over paid with one 5 shilling stamp?

From what I understand from reading online the correct air mail rate for this time period was 1 shilling 3 pence?....I think.......but I'm not sure, because I have not studied long enough on UK stamps from the WW2 period so I don't know much, but I don't think the United Kingdom issued a face value stamp of 1s/3p until the 1950's?....am I correct?

Nice cover though....and a very interesting piece of history.

hi Bobcat, yes, because the rate was 1/-3d say, the sender used a 5/- its not really a genuine usage, but I agree its an interesting cover, this is why I love postal history, i've learnt more about history from philately than anything else, id never heard of the death railway.

Hi ash38, I agree the story in the link you posted was quite poignant and harrowing.

It is a genuine usage.

The stamp is properly used but used with a convenience overpayment. However from the look of the envelope, it likely was more than on rate in weight. thus to assume only one rate is incorrect. As additional rates are added, the convenience overpayment become smaller.The sender may have also been unaware of the rate as being unaware of the actual weight, more concerned in getting the item into the post or this was the stamp closest to the needed rate. There were at time some fee associated with air transit through certain regions of the world as WWII was already underway prior to December 1941.

Given to whom this was addressed along with all the markings, this is a wonderful piece of postal history. Was the sender's name on the back? Are there other markings on the back? If so show them please.

Lastly the royal mail was kind to the sender when returning the letter to only collect the surface rate of postage and refunding the additional airmail costs since such service was not provided. Had it been sent surface,it still would have been returned.

Lastly, anyone degrading the stamp or the usage is not doing you nor the fantastic cover a service.

WOW!

Family mail, likely sent after the news of the attack. Nothing philatelic here, a great piece of postal history. Only the letter itself would add to this.

Thank you for sharing.

I agree ,nice historical postal cover.With a 5sh stamp;much rarer.
Maybe the only one in existence.

The rate was 1 shillings and 3 pence for every half ounce. 5 shillings = 4 x 1 shillings and 3 pence, so the letter could have weighed between 1½ to 2 ounces together with its content.

A similar cover - also posted in December 1941, also addressed to Malaya, also franked with a 5/- stamp, and also with the airmail fee of 3/9 refunded

(NB - this cover is not mine - it was sold by Cavendish Auctions just recently in October 2024, as part of the Gavin Fryer Collections.)