Vilnius 1928

Hand stamped inscription "Opłata ryczałtowa" (Flat rate)

This is a stampless cover sent in 1928 from Wilno 1 (now Vilnius, Lithuania) to Lwów (now Львів/Lviv, Ukraine). The sender is the Sekretarjat of Uniwersytet Stefana Batorego (Stephan Bathory University) which is the name given to the present Vilnius University between 1919 and 1939. The hand stamped inscription on the upper right corner of the cover "Opłata ryczałtowa" is telling us that it is a flat rate. I guess in our modern time, most of the post offices would simply state "Port Payé" or "Taxe Perçue" in French or the equivalent of "Postage paid" in their language of origin, and not give much detailed information (not even in modern Poland) like we see on this cover. This particular inscription even tells you that the Post of Telephone and Telegraph had acquired the right to do so, article number and article issued date. I do not have detail information about the flat rate system at that time but the Polish Post seemed to offer such service for inland mails to selected companies and institutions. Both Wilno and Lwów were part of Poland when this cover was sent.

On the back, there is a nice seal of Uniwersytet Stefana Batorego, Wilno, which adds an extra attraction to this cover.