Switzerland (1908) Card / Chur to Splugen

Description

Switzerland 1908 ? Cash on Delivery (Nachnahme) Postal Form ? Chur to Spl?gen ? Refused Acceptance

Official Swiss Cash on Delivery postal form returned after refusal of payment, bearing the bilingual auxiliary label “Annahme verweigert / Refus?”.

Overview

Official Swiss Cash on Delivery (Nachnahme) postal form mailed from Chur on 22 October 1908 and addressed to Spl?gen, where the addressee refused acceptance and payment on 23 October 1908. The document was subsequently returned to the sender and preserves the complete postal evidence of an unsuccessful collection procedure.

Technical Details

• Country: Switzerland
• Date of Mailing: 22 October 1908
• Origin: Chur, Graub?nden
• Destination: Spl?gen, Graub?nden
• Postal Service: Cash on Delivery (Nachnahme)
• Sender: B?ndnerischer Waisenunterst?tzungsverein
• Amount to Collect: CHF 1.10
• Franking: 10 Centimes Helvetia definitive

Philatelic Description

Official Swiss Cash on Delivery postal form issued by the B?ndnerischer Waisenunterst?tzungsverein, a charitable association established to support orphaned children in the Canton of Graub?nden. The document is franked with a 10-centime Helvetia definitive, cancelled at Chur on 22 October 1908. Upon arrival at Spl?gen on 23 October 1908, the addressee declined acceptance and refused payment. The form received the official bilingual Swiss auxiliary label “Annahme verweigert / Refus?” together with additional Spl?gen datestamps on both the front and reverse recording the postal handling.

Postal History

The document illustrates the operation of the Swiss Cash on Delivery (Nachnahme) service in the early twentieth century. After acceptance at Chur, the form reached Spl?gen the following day, where the postal administration presented it to the addressee for payment of CHF 1.10. The payment was refused, and the refusal was immediately recorded by applying the official bilingual auxiliary label. Datestamps applied at Spl?gen on both sides of the document record the administrative processing of the unsuccessful transaction before the form entered the return procedure.

Historical Background

The Swiss postal administration offered a Cash on Delivery (Nachnahme) service allowing associations, commercial firms and institutions to collect payments through the postal network. Instead of requesting payment separately, the amount due was collected by the postal service upon delivery. This method was widely employed by charitable organisations, publishers and commercial businesses throughout Switzerland during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Documents recording unsuccessful collections are encountered less frequently than routine completed transactions.

Condition

• Well preserved.
• Complete postal form.
• Original printed regulations retained on the reverse.
• Chur and Spl?gen datestamps clearly legible.
• Official bilingual “Annahme verweigert / Refus?” auxiliary label intact.
• Minor handling wear consistent with age.

Collecting Areas

• Switzerland
• Swiss Postal History
• Graub?nden
• Cash on Delivery (Nachnahme)
• Auxiliary Postal Markings
• Returned Mail
• Postal Forms
• Charity Mail
• Helvetia Definitives

Philatelic Significance

This document provides a clear record of the Swiss Cash on Delivery procedure, preserving the successive stages of acceptance, transmission, presentation, refusal and return. The combination of the Chur dispatch datestamp, Spl?gen arrival and return datestamps, the official bilingual “Annahme verweigert / Refus?” auxiliary label and the complete administrative form documents the postal handling of an unsuccessful collection transaction. As a complete postal document rather than a simple cover, it represents a useful example of early twentieth-century Swiss postal administration and is well suited to specialised collections of Swiss postal history, postal forms and auxiliary markings.