Steve Washburne Philatelic Page/
by Stephen S. Washburne
I recently acquired the below registered postal card as a scarce example of Portugal used in Mozambique. It is seemingly an ordinary Mozambique card (H&G1; OM1) cancelled Lourenço Marques February 18, 1899, to which has been added a Portugal D. Carlos Mouchon stamp, red-carmine, without denomination, paying the registration premium. The Lourenço Marques registration handstamp and octagonal Lisboa | R | Central March 16 arrival backstamp are both completely typical of the period, indicating the item did indeed go through the mails.
Collecting the postal history of the Carlos Mouchon issue, I had been looking for a proper use of the "non-standard" stamps. About this issue (Scott 110-131, CEsp 126-147) Scott says, "several values ... exist without figures of value, also with figures inverted or otherwise misplaced but they were not regularly issued." while CE says (author's translation) "it's acknowledged that stamps with denomination omitted, inverted, or printed double were issued clandestinely."
O Historia do Selo (Woodbridge translation), echoes the catalogs, "all or almost all of these
errors were purposely and clandestinely produced." Concerning used examples, it says: "Mr.
John Norris Marsden knew of the following: 2½ reis, without value, used in Lisboa / 5 reis,
without value, used in Caldas da Rainha / 10, 20 & 50 reis, without value, used in Lisboa."
As well he should, because many of the 'used' items are addressed to that prominent
philatelist or his family. At left is an example on piece, ex Pearson, of the yellow-orange (5
reis) from my collection.
The next matter to be explained is how one could come to be used in Mozambique. There were periodic stamp shortages in Lourenço Marques around the turn of the century, and philatelists were quick to exploit these. The 1897 50 reis on 300 blue/salmon (Sct.29 , CE31), 1899 surcharged fiscals (Sct 53-56, CE47-50), as well as 50 on 75r rose C. Mouchon (Sct.57, CE51), are seldom found on cover except philatelically. When shown my card, the Editor observed February 18, 1899 was just about the time the surcharged fiscals were in use.
With no message, my card is definitely philatelic, but why a stamp of Portugal, without denomination? It could be argued--perhaps by the hypothetical user to a naive postal clerk--that not bearing a colony name, the stamps of the mainland were valid throughout the Empire. Perhaps the canny sender, assuredly a philatelist, had bought these curiosities from Lisboa a few years earlier and was wondering how to use them up. But the clerk might object that red was the color of the domestic letter rate stamp; the 50 reis registry fee required a blue stamp. Aha, (philatelist to clerk) but do you not realize that L.M. currency, like the Caribbean dollar, is worth only half that of the motherland. Well, o.k., says the clerk, I'll let it go through, but if my supervisor hears of this ...
In years of collecting, I've heard worse stories, so happily concluded the deal and acquired the item, at a fair price. What an addition to my collection! Of course the philatelist who prepared this probably paid off the clerk, but so what! I'm ok, you're ok--or am I being too 70s?
Let's take another look at that item, with a high power glass, perhaps. I draw your attention to the cancels, in particular the spelling. Left is blurry, but definitely LOUREN...; right is clearly LOREN... 'CORREIO' is bold at left, weak at right; '99' is weak at left, strong at right. If P-I could afford full color, you would see the left cancel is the dark navy-blue used in Lourenço Marques, the right, at least the part on the stamp, in basic black. How do you explain that?!?!
Really, no problem. What probably happened--pure supposition--is that a batch of these cards, philatelically prepared with surcharged fiscals, arrived in Lisboa, perhaps as a pack with sequential registry numbers. Perhaps the stamp had fallen off my card, or become damaged and unsaleable. Or maybe a collector wanted the used stamp, but not the card. A card with missing stamp is a hard sell, but--hey --we've got a bunch of these missing value Carlos Mouchons which ain't selling much anymore, and Manny over there is real good at painting in cancels ...
Maybe it did, or maybe it didn't happen that way, but before you worry if I got snookered, I didn't. Once I pointed out the obvious, the previous owner was happy to take a very nominal amount for the card, which now resides in the ISPP Reference collection, which as Expert Committee chair, I curate.
Remember, if it's too good to be true, it probably isn't!