Today in Postal History


 

Panama (Columbia) to Austria
February 25, 1891

The CDS on this cover is not too clear but it does come from
the AGENCIA POSTAL NACIONAL (National Postal Agency).*
I believe this merely states that the Columbian post office processed the mail.

The Panama at the bottom of the CDS is for what is now Panama City on the
Pacific side of the isthmus at the entrance to the present day canal.
Of course, this was before the Panama Canal was started but Canal Fever was active.
The French had not yet given up on their attempts to build a canal.

It is interesting that the cover is franked with a 10c black on yellow paper
Colombian stamp issued for the Department of Panama in 1887-88 (Scott 11).
The stamp features a map of Panama.

Panama did not have its own stamps until after it became a republic in 1903.
The foreign influences in its separation from Columbia were rooted in Canal plans.

On its way to Vienna 'Via New York', the cover received a FOREIGN N.Y. TRANSIT on March 5.
It arrived in Vienna on March 17 where it was marked with a
Vienna foreign receiver and then with a Viennese distribution mark.

*Thanks to David Benson for identifying the CDS for me and
getting me to rethink how to address the source of this cover.

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