LEGENDARY - "Small Packet" cover as WWII AIRMAIL: 26 Nov 1939 postmarked registered air mail cover sent from TEL AVIV to RICHMOND (LONDON); the cover is endorsed "Imperial" Airways & bears franking totaling 153 mils, with a few stamps clearly missing & tied by 3x strikes of the oval REGISTERED TEL AVIV postmark on front + 2x on back; affixed on lower front with green customs label PT 539 with French instruction "CUSTOMS - may be opened by the office" + 1x strike on front/back of the #6 inspector of CUSTOMS and EXCISE in Palestine; backstamped 27 Nov ER RAMLE transit - rare proving mark, see further in description; on back heavy signs of envelope flap glued shut, cover slit open at top + perimeter tears.

This is an extremely rare example of a much publicized & promoted postal service called "small packets" (officially described as a "new class of postal packet"; in Hebrew "Tzrorot Ktanim"), which in this period enabled people to send small articles of merchandise, souvenirs and very basic & specific types of papers at a discounted postage rate albeit with a minimum postage fee; it was initiated by the 1929 London UPU Convention, available only as an overseas service and at least as of the 1934 UPU Convention in Cairo "small packets" could be sent by surface or by air. Excluded from this service were letters, notes or documents in nature of personal correspondence - though simple open invoices could be sent; valuables and new or used postage stamps could not be sent. Small Packet covers were to be submitted unsealed to permit easy customs examination, be affixed with a green customs label, and endorsed "Small Packet" (though as with "air mail" this was not always done); they could be sent as registered mail but were not eligible for insurance. The presented cover displays the outward signs of a small packet, including the very careful sealing of the cover by the customs department - evidenced by the top portion of its handstamp now being covered by the sealed flap after examination.

The published postage rate for Small Packets (by surface mail), as of 1 Jan 1935 was 6 mils per 50g, with a minimum fee of 30m; this rate was in force until 12 Sept 1943 when it was revised (to 8m per 50g, with a minimum charge of 40m), though in this case the cover bears much higher postage: as per special unified airmail postage rates published for Brazil and South America, on 22 Sept. 1939 on the basis of a minimum of 25 gram weight (half the standard 50g minimum), it appears that the basis for the airmail �samples� (and �small packet�) postage rate was a factor of 2.5x the base airmail letter rate for the relevant country (as the base airmail letter weight was 10g) � here on this date, for the UK it was 60 mils (by Imperial Airways) such that the minimum weight tranche (25g) would yield a base postage rate of 150 mils plus the 13 mils registry fee for a total of 163m in postage; the missing franks are evidently a vertical pair of 5m stamps.

Of note, the ER RAMLE transit mark is a proving mark that the cover was indeed dispatched by air as this was the airport used by Imperial on its eastward route to London from Brisbane (Imperial also used LYDDA and most histories imply that only this airport was used by Imperial after 1937). Also noteworthy is the lack of censorship: it was dispatched during a narrow time period between the promulgation of the Palestine "1939 Defence Regulations" (of 28 Sept) which stipulated which types of mail required censorship - small packets were excluded - and the 7 Dec. revision of those regulations, which increased the number of classes of censorable mail from 4 to 11, now including small packets.

A rare instance of small packet mail, especially during WWII, as this service was discontinued on 31 Jan 1940 and reinstated only in Sept. 1943. This mail service was heavily promoted in the 1930s, though the postal service only records its usage for 1946 & 1947. This is the first of two confirmable �small packets� identified by this cataloguer. Ben-Arieh certification enclosed.


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