| Message: |
I was checking back to see if anyone had replied to my recent query (unfortunately not) when I noticed that no-one had replied here either.
I was interested in the responses to this query, as I have previously noticed these marks on Nachnahme covers, but been unable to find the explanation for them.
I eventually made a couple of massive assumptions, based on no documentary evidence whatsoever.
Older Nachnahme labels have a space to put a number in by hand, and that this practice seems to end when the cover has a triangular numeral handstamp added. My first assumption was that both the handwritten number and the handstamp record the collection of the fee against the relevant number.
The second assumption was that the number related to the postman collecting the money. It could relate to several things, including the letter, the post office, the delivery route number of the address from which the fee was due, or the badge number of the postman who was to collect the fee. I decided that the last one was most likely, on the basis that if postman no. 9 takes out COD covers to a value of X marks and Y pfennigs on that date, he returns with the same amount of cash, all recorded in the relevant ledger.
Unfortunately, my theory does not account for Nachnahme covers with plain triangles, lacking either handwritten or handstamped number.
Apart from that… |
