Q99 November, 2011   non member   Internal rate in 1866 I bought Lot 501 of the “Pearls of Arabia” auction held by Spink’s. The June 1867 letter from Cairo via Alexandria and Trieste to Wiener Neustadt is franked by 2pi of the First Issue (double rate) for the trip from Cairo to Alexandria, and 25 soldi (single rate) for the journey from Alexandria to Wiener Neustadt. The weight of a single letter in Austria was 1 lod. But what was the weight step for a single letter in the Egyptian post? Was it different? I’d like to say: yes. For example: for the British it was 1/2 oz, for the French 7 1/2 g.

Reply member 74) The Austrian rates were for 15g units, whereas in 1865-66 the Egyptian rates were for 10g units. Thus the letter in question must have weighed between 10 and 15g, being a double-rate letter in Egypt, but a single in the Austrian PO.