DENMARK-HAMBURG - POSTAL HISTORY
THE FRENCH POST OFFICE IN HAMBURG 1806-1814

1807 - EARLY NAPOLEONIC CENSORED HAMBURG POST
COPENHAGEN TO BORDEAUX 2 OCTOBER 1807
HUGHMARK-HALPERN TYPE D-9
ONLY IN USE FOR SEVEN MONTHS APRIL TO OCTOBER 1807

WRITTEN & POSTED DURING THE BRITISH OCCUPATION OF COPENHAGEN
FOLLOWING ITS SEPTEMBER 6TH, 1807 SURRENDER

Manuscript Fr[anco] Hamb[urg]
Paid from Copenhagen to Hamburg

Unusual double red Wax Seal
Possible Censor Cover and reseal as Britain was currently occupying Copenhagen!!

French inland domestic
charge of 15 Centimes

Mark on reverse possibly rate
from Hamburg to French Border

NOTES:   On March 15th 1806 Napoleon created the Grand Duchy of Berg for his brother-in-law Joachim Murat (who on July 8, 1808 was "promoted" to King of Naples and ceded the Grand Duchy back to Napoleon). This new Grand Duchy was made from the older Duchy of Berg which Napoleon took from Bavaria and Cleves. He was interested in instituting a Continental Blockade of Great Britain and thus wished to control all the ports and communications to the Mainland Continent. He desired to combine the old Hanseatic cities of Bremen, Lübeck and Hamburg into the new Grand Duchy and thus control the flow of English communication and information and markets. On July 17, 1806 Napoleon "acquired" the Thurn & Taxis postal privileges of these cities for the Grand Duchy of Berg. However, a GDB post office was not actually established until the October of 1806 when the French occupied Hamburg. And thus began the 1806-1814 French Post Office in Hamburg era.
      The handstamps of this post office are interesting as there were so many and they changed frequently (many lasting only months), making a collection of them extremely challenging. The early forms of handstamps usually have the letters BGD (Bureau Grand Ducal) and R 4 - which stands for Rayon #4 which was Hamburg's Thurn and Taxis' Rayon (postal district) Number. This particular type Hughmark & Halpern Type D-9 was only in use from April to October 1807 and this letter is datelined 26 September 1807 and cancel marked in Hamburg 2 October 1807. In January 1808 following complaints that the State had had no right to surrender what were essentially private postal courier service rights and privileges to Napoleon, a financial recompense was offered and Napoleon succeeded in gaining control of the postal routes under a 25 year license and the BDG was gradually dropped from the handstamps. In August of 1808 (following Murat going to Naples) Napoleon assumed the Title of Grand Duke of Berg and the new postal service was known as the Kaiserlich Königlich Französisches Ober-Postamt. (much of the above is from Hughmark & Halpern's excellent reference, Stampless Mail to and from Scandinavia to 1868, 1999). Contains business correspondence from Tutein? Gebrieder? in Copenhagen to Schroder & Schyler in Bordeaux, France posted during the brief British Occupation of Copenhagen (September 7 - October 21, 1807).
     [much of the above is from Hughmark & Halpern's excellent reference, Stampless Mail to and from Scandinavia to 1868, 1999]

Docketing Notation

 

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