A nice pair of postal covers from 1905 posted in New Zealand and addressed to the Commercial Bank in Hobart, Tasmania.
Note the postmarks on the rear of the envelopes to show when the letters were received in Hobart. It's slightly galling to realise that mail from Wellington to Hobart took about a week, if anything rather faster than today!
One of the envelopes has two red one penny stamps and the other only one.
If you look closely at the stamps you can see the phrase 'Universal Postage' under the allegorical figure of Zealandia
A lot of countries, including Australia, refused to participate in the universal penny post scheme for fear of bankrupting their postal systems, and insisted that the cost of sending mail to and from New Zealand should remain at two pence (roughly A$1.60 today, or a little more than half the actual cost of sending a letter from Australia to New Zealand today).
Who did, and who didn't participate in the universal penny post scheme caused great confusion, and I'm guessing that someone just got it wrong, and didn't remember that two one penny stamps were needed for Australia.
In any case the postal authorities have waived the penalty on this occasion as there's no postage due stamp on the underpaid envelope
There is also a little bit more of historical interest.
Each envelope has had a hole punched through it - it was common practice in offices of the time for correspondence or invoices once dealt with to be placed on a spike before filing, as in this rather bent example from the dispensary in Dow's pharmacy in Chiltern
The Commercial Bank was founded in Melbourne in 1866 and operated until 1982 when it merged with the Bank of New South Wales to form Westpac.
The Commercial Bank did not operate in New Zealand until 1912, but as can be seen, it had business dealings in New Zealand before then.
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