A forwarding agent was an intermediary who facilitated the routing of
international mail before the development of the modern
postal system
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal sy ...
.
A forwarding agent's cachet is "A strike or endorsement applied to a letter to indicate that it had been handled in transit by means other than the Postal Service." Their markings are distinguished, and can be a collectible.
History
In the early days of postal communications it was often necessary for international mail to pass through a number of hands before reaching its eventual destination. At each stage the agent would add their own mark. For instance, a letter might pass first through the sender's domestic post office's hands, then to a forwarder for a sea journey and then to the post office of the destination country.
The study of the marks of forwarding agents on mail is a popular branch of
postal history
Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and Cover (philately), covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal system ...
.
See also
*
Thomas Fletcher Waghorn
References
Further reading
*
Rowe, Kenneth. ''The postal history and markings of the forwarding agents''. (1st edition 1966, supplement 1974, 2nd ed. 1984, 3rd ed. 1996. {{ISBN, 0-917528-12-3)
External links
Images of Forwarding Agents marks used on Venezuela Stamps.
* ttp://rodsell.com/hksmsic/fwdagtlist.html List of Hong Kong Forwarding Agents.br>List of Forwarding Agents from Kenneth Rowe's book.
Philatelic terminology