Civil Censorship Study Group

Hello Everyone, I'm quite new to censorship letters, so please forgive if there is a very obvious answer. got the below cover with seemingly french military censorship.

questions:
- can anyone say something about the round postmark ("... Postes") ? is this a military postmark? is the
- can anyone say something about the triangular postmark "ON"?





many thanks!
Peter

Hello Peter!
Welcome to the CCSG forum.

A very interesting cover.

Regarding the "TRESOR ET POSTES" mark: Its a military franchise postmark. You can find more info on the following link

https://semeuse25cbleu.net/grande-guerr ... llet-1915/

Regarding the "NO" inverted triangle mark. According to Mr. Jérôme Bourguignat ("Le Contrôle Postal et Télégraphique Français pendant la Premiére Guerre Mondiale ,1914-1921 - page 428-9):

Quote
La marque NO
Cette marque a suscité beaocoup d´interrogations. Il y en a quuatre types: deux "NO" dans un triangle, un "NO" dans un cercle et un "NO" sans encadrement.( yours is type I "triangle")
Certains auteurs avaient émis l´hypothese que la marque "NO" dnas un triangle etait apposée par la censure hellénique, mais ces initiales ne peuvent être associées á aucune expression grecque applicable aá ce contexte. Elle pourrait être une marque française et signifier "Non Ouvert". Cependant l´avis le plus couramment admis est que cette marque est portée par l´autorité britannique en Gréce sur les lettres non ouverts par la censure (d´oú l´abréviation NO pour "NOT OPENED") sans que son usage soit bien explique. C. Binos ("The NO initials as censorship indication during the IWW and their interpretation". Philotelia, Athènes, 1973) postule qu´elle signifie "No Objection".
end of quotation.

I hope this help you.

Best regards.
José M.

Hello José

This is very helpful indeed, many thanks!

best regards, Peter

Hi,

I have always associated this marking with French-censored mail from Salonika. Not sure whether it is "ON" or "NO" or what it means. Below is another example.

Dann

thanks Dann! both our covers share the french censorship marks plus "ON" or "NO". would be interesting to see if others have covers without french censorship marks and the "NO" triangle.

Peter

Hi again,

Thanks to Jose for his input.

I think that the idea that this marking indicates unopened mail is refuted by the fact that both of the covers that Peter and I have uploaded were opened, as was the cover shown on the site

https://semeuse25cbleu.net/grande-guerr ... llet-1915/

which, contrary to M. Binos's suggestion, attributes the NO marking to the French rather than to the British.



28 août 1919, contrôlé par l’autorité militaire, cachet 1 à chiffre droit de l’Armée d’Orient.
Recto : bande de contrôle oblitérée avec le même cachet + cachet « NO » de l’Armée d’Orient

This is an obscure point. but as nobody really seems to know the answer, we should pursue it. My plan is to keep an eye out for it on eBay, which I scan for censorship most days, and report any findings to Peter (since his query started the process). He may eventually have a definitive answer that can be an article in the CCSG Bulletin.

Dann

Hi again!
A very interesting topic.

For the article, I upload picture of cover from Spain to Salonique -via Marseille??- censored by Italy in Bologna, with "ON-NO" mark.


Likely route of transmission: Tarrega (Lerida) to Barcelona (surface mail) - Barcelona to Genoa (ship mail) - Genoa to Bologna (surface mail) - Bologna to Salonique (not sure if by shipmail or surface).

Best regards.

Jose M.

found more examples online:

https://www.stampcircuit.com/stamp-Auct ... greece-ww1

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FRENCH-MILIT ... 3280036307

https://collectio.bid/listing/view/5bd7 ... 4e0a694a4f

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GREECE-1916-TW ... 1790747408

The postmark is described as "French triangular "NO" (Non Ouvert, Salonica)" and "Allied “NO” triangular censor marking".

Peter

This "NO" triangle mark should be a mark related to postage , such as postage due mark, not a censor mark

Or a censor mark similar to "Not opened by censor"
https://www.ebay.com.hk/itm/1941-Chengt ... Sw7oheoQX9