I have recently acquired an unusual registered cover illustrated in Fig. 1 above. This was sent from Guernsey to Bone (now Annaba) in Algeria on 29 December 1906. This was originally a KEVII 1d postal stationery envelope which was uprated with two KEVII stamps to give the correct 4½d overseas registered letter rate. This included 2d registration fee which was in use between 1878 and 1921. The stamps are cancelled with GUERNSEY M.O.O. (Money Order Office) datestamps. These seldom seen datestamps have been recorded in use in Guernsey between 1884 and 1936. Alongside the stamps the Guernsey Post Office applied the ‘R in oval/ FEE PAID’ handstamp in violet ink. This use is one year later than that recorded in the SG Channel Islands Postal History catalogue (1991). The cover was routed via London where it received the London EC registered datestamp for 1 January 1907.
Fig. 2 (on reverse)
This was then forwarded to the town of Constantine in Algeria. The arrival datestamp is shown in Fig. 2 above. The cover was then re- routed to the addressees in Bone, a coastal town 100 miles north east of Constantine.
I would be interested to know if any members of the Society have also got C.I. mail addressed to Algeria.
