This is a continuation
of the Blog post of 27 December 2019
I illustrate here two
Free Frank letters sent from Russia to Mont Athos. They require explanation,
not least because they are going outside the territory of Imperial Russia into
the territory of the Ottoman Empire, though a part which enjoyed internal administrative
autonomy. Nonetheless, there was an international frontier at the port of
Daphne, the harbour of Mont Athos , and it was under Ottoman control until
1912-13 when control passed to Greece.
Free Frank privileges
are common enough and have always been subject to abuse. In Great Britain,
Members of Parliament enjoyed Free Frank privileges and thoroughly abused them
before the advent of Penny Postage. With postage rates maybe ten or twenty times
greater than one penny, you could do favours by posting other people’s mail -
and all that was required of you was your signature on the outside of the
letter and use of the House of Commons mail box.
In Imperial Russia,
Free Frank privileges were extensive but subject to requirements designed to
enable accounting and reduce fraud. So on the front of a letter a cachet and a
number was required - the number entered into an accounting book. And on the
back a seal was required which asserted the right to the Free Frank privilege.
The seal could be wax, paper or the impression of another rubber or metal handstamp.
But Free Frank privilege
cannot normally extend beyond the frontier unless as part of some convention or
agreement with another state or within an Empire - in the British Empire, Free
Frank privilege could carry an O H M S letter from a colony to London.
So how did these Free
Frank letters get from Russia to Ottoman Athos without any charge being raised?
The simple answer is that they travelled to their destination without passing
out of Russian hands. At Odessa, Russian postal officials handed over them to
Russian agents of the R O P i T shipping line.
The R O P i T boat sailed to Athos where
the Russian ship was subject to Ottoman quarantine rules. But the bags of mail
were handed directly to agents of the R O P i T post office on Mont Athos without
Ottoman intervention. The post office then handed them to monks from the
appropriate monasteries - the bags were I believe already pre-sorted by monastery. There
were really only four possible destinations, two of them represented by my
letters: the skete of St Andrew and the skete of the Prophet Elijah. (The other
destinations were the monastery of Panteleimon and the Kellion of St John
Chrystostom).
These Free Frank
letters are not common but more will be on offer in the Heinrich Koehler sale
of a large collection of Mont Athos material, scheduled for March 2020.
Click On Images to Enlarge
Click on Images to Enlarge
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