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This 1821 cover bears a handwritten “Refused” marking,
showing that the recipient refused the letter and did not
pay the postage. Normally, the Post Office would then try to collect
the fee from the sender. If the sender refused to pay, it
was sent to the Dead Letter Office.
The practice of refusing unpaid letters was fairly common
in the nineteenth century
and its cost to the Post Office led to Rowland Hill’s
reforms of 1839-1840 that eventually required that all mail
be prepaid by the sender.
This cover shows another marking which indicates that the
Scottish halfpenny surcharge was assessed. It is the
abbreviation “Addl,” with a superscript “L,” over the
fraction one-half, all enclosed in a box.
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