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| Partially opened registered cover which was sent from Toelangan (Dutch Indies) to Bratislava on the 15th of November 1938. The Registered Fee to other countries apart from the Netherlands and colonies was 20c at that time. Add up the 15c rate to European countries and you're at 35c. Than you're still left with an extra 12c, so I guess that this is the additional Airmail Fee, although I'm not entirely sure about it. According to my resources the Airmail fee was 30c in 1938... Nevertheless, it seems to me that all the 4 values of the Queen Wilhelmina Ruby Jubilee series of 1938 were correctly used to make up the rate to Bratislava. So this implies a non-philatelic franking! |
In 1938 postal services between the Dutch Indies and other countries worldwide were already firmly established. Due to the increased volume of airmail and the introduction of telephone and radio the Indies seemed not longer 'out of reach' or on another planet in the latter half of the 1930s. Still, Queen Wilhelmina never visited her colony and governance remained very bureaucratic and rigid.
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| Reverse of the cover with 2 cds Prague transit machine cancellations |
The sender of the cover - Cornelis Lodewijk Moll - worked at SF. Kremboong. I discovered he was known as '1e Geëmpl." A chic name for an employee high up in the ranks of a factory. SF. Kremboong made sugar (SF stands for Suikerfabriek, Sugar Factory) and continues to exist as PG Krembung nowadays. When browsing through Google Streetview it seems to me nothing really has changed since the Dutch left in the 1940s. Many of the older architecture, infrastructure etc. still appear to be in use as of today!
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| SF Kremboong which is now known as PG Krembung. |
I couldn't find anything on Mr Moll by using Google of even the Dutch digital newspaper archives (Delpher.nl). The only time a 'C.L. Moll' pops up was in the obituary below.
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| Obituary of A.M. van Hamel 17-10-1925. She was the mother in law of C.L. Moll. |
Update 22-2-2020: "Mr Cornelis Lodewijk Moll was born on 28 March 1893 in Utrecht. He married Suzanna Antoinette van Hamel on 24 November 1921 in Haarlem. Suzanna was born on 22 August 1888 in Haarlem. Cornelis was a widower when he married Suzanna, and his profession is listed on his wedding certificate as ‘administrator’ (Suzanna had no profession)." All credits to Ben Jansen!
Still, Cornelis Moll remains a bit of a mystery person. But when compared to the addressee, we could state we almost knew him personally. I found nothing on the addressee. This Arpad Levius lived at the Fochgasse in Bratislava but I'm afraid he didn't survive WOII because of his Jewish sounding surname. Every combination of Arpad (not your ordinary first name) and Levius makes no sense when I put them in Google. This makes the relation between him and C.L. Moll difficult to interpret. Mr Levius might have been a customer of some sort - though Google gives me no clue if Levius or the Arpad family were merchants. Moreover, Moll addressed the letter to him personally, not using any company name etc.
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| Toelangan registration label and 'Long Beam' cds reading 15.11.38.8-9 V meaning the cover was sent between 8 and 9 a.m. |
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| Prague transit postmark |
Whatever their relation has been like, the cover itself is quite a gem - albeit an incomplete entire. The destination is odd (Bratislava only had approx. 140.000 inhabitants in 1939) as is the franking. The registration label might be quite scarce as well, although Toelangan was located on the important east-west Java railway and the big city of Soerabaja lied in close proximity of SF. Kremboong. I hope that the relation between Moll and Levius will become clear one day though - even if Levius only turns out to have been an avid Dutch Indies stamp collector!
