Post by PostmasterGS on Jun 20, 2022 19:55:47 GMT -5
Over the last 10 years, I've had about a dozen shipments from Germany go missing in USPS's New York International Sorting Center and/or CBP's NY Customs Office. All were eBay or Delcampe lots, and the most valuable was worth about $300. Considering that registered mail is required for most eBay transactions, it was just a risk I had to take. I'd been lucky that I'd never lost a lot from an auctionhouse, which is where I tend to buy my rarest and most valuable items.
That luck just ran out. In April, I bought this set of Kiautschou specimens fro an auctionhouse in Germany.
As a general rule, German stamps of the period distributed by the UPU to other postal agencies around the world received standard, identical "Specimen" overprints in a sans-serif font.
As you'll note, these have a script overprint. That's because this set wasn't distributed with Specimen overprints -- they aren't even listed in Michel. The overprint on this set was applied upon receipt by the Rhodesian postal agency. There were likely only a couple of these sets ever in existence.
I asked the auctionhouse to not ship via the post in order to avoid USPS, and they said they would use DHL. Unfortunately, Deutsche Post is also DHL, and either through a miscommunication or simple negligence, it was sent as a DHL Packet through the mail system, not as a DHL Parcel, which should have stayed out of the mail system until the last leg of delivery. The package made it as far as New York, where the last update was Processed Through Facility: ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS) on 17 May. USPS says it is in Customs, and Customs is unreachable.
I'll get a full refund (approx $3,000), but I hate to see such a piece of history lost for good. Thanks again, USPS and CBP.
P.S. If anyone sees this set for sale anywhere, please let me know.
That luck just ran out. In April, I bought this set of Kiautschou specimens fro an auctionhouse in Germany.
As a general rule, German stamps of the period distributed by the UPU to other postal agencies around the world received standard, identical "Specimen" overprints in a sans-serif font.
As you'll note, these have a script overprint. That's because this set wasn't distributed with Specimen overprints -- they aren't even listed in Michel. The overprint on this set was applied upon receipt by the Rhodesian postal agency. There were likely only a couple of these sets ever in existence.
I asked the auctionhouse to not ship via the post in order to avoid USPS, and they said they would use DHL. Unfortunately, Deutsche Post is also DHL, and either through a miscommunication or simple negligence, it was sent as a DHL Packet through the mail system, not as a DHL Parcel, which should have stayed out of the mail system until the last leg of delivery. The package made it as far as New York, where the last update was Processed Through Facility: ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS) on 17 May. USPS says it is in Customs, and Customs is unreachable.
I'll get a full refund (approx $3,000), but I hate to see such a piece of history lost for good. Thanks again, USPS and CBP.
P.S. If anyone sees this set for sale anywhere, please let me know.
