Today in Postal History




El Salvador to Switzerland
May 26, 1923

This cover was posted in Sonsonate which is 56 km west of El Salvador, the capital,
and inland 19 km from the Pacifc port of Acajutla.
Sonsonate is in a rich agricultural area.

There is only one Sonsonate CDS on the the front.
The stamps are cancelled with four strikes of a 7-bar handstamp.

The cover is franked with 3 1923 5c. on 6c. surcharges of the
1921 carmine rose portraying José Matias Delgado addressing a crowd (Scott 482)
and 5 1c. of the 1921 green Francisco Menéndez (Scott 474).

José Matias Delgado was a priest who was a leader in gaining
Salvadoran independence from Guatemala in the early 19th century.
Menéndez was president of El Salvador from 1885-1890 who overthrew his predecessor, Rafael Zaldivar.
He subsequently was ousted and executed by his army commander, General Carlos Erzeta.
During his administration, the first durable constitution was adopted in 1886.

The destination was Zurich.
There are no arrival or transit markings.

The routing was requested to be Puerto Barrios and New Orleans.
Puerto Barrios is a port in Guatemala on its short Caribbean coast.*

Note the beautiful script used by the sender who was evidently related to the recipient.

*The Puerto Barrios routing of El Salvador mail has an interesting history.
Thanks to Joe Hahn for supplying the following sidelight on the history of this routing:

In 1879, when El Salvador joined the UPU, the letter rate was set at 10 centavos for 15 grams.  They were, however, permitted to charge an additional fee of 1 centavo for items carried via Panama as was the case with much of their international mail.  In 1899 the railroad from San Salvador to Metapan was completed and arrangements were made with Guatemala to transit mail via Zacapa and Puerto Barrios.  El Salvador instituted an "Impost" fee of 5 centavos for this service as it was faster than via Panama.  However, the UPU got wind of this and demanded that the fee be dropped as it was contrary to UPU regulations.  El Salvador withdrew the special stamps issued for this fee (the 1899 "Transito Territorial" items you see in Scott) but continued to charge an additional 5 centavos for mail sent this way.  This continued to be the case up to about 1912 or so when the basic rate was increased to 17 centavos per 15 grams regardless of how sent.

Note the beautiful script used by the sender who was evidently related to the recipient.

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