The Fifteen-cent Prexie

Central America and Caribbean airmail usage

The rate for airmail letters to Panama, Costa Rica, Guadeloupe, Martinique, the Leeward Islands, Trinidad & Tobago, and the Windward Islands was fifteen cents from December 1, 1937 until April 1, 1945. The airmail rate to Barbados was also fifteen cents from July 9, 1940 until January 15, 1941.

An airmail letter sent to Guadeloupe in 1942.

A cover mailed to the US Consulate in Martinique in May of 1941. Mailed May 22, it was received June 9.

Airmail to Trinidad, sent January 11, 1939 and received January 16.

Airmail from civilian contractors was not given the six-cent military concession rate until October 21, 1942. This letter, though sent from the US Naval Base in Trinidad, was subject to the full airmail rate as if being sent to there from the US.

This penalty envelope appears to have been used for private correspondence by an engineer at APO 805 in Saint Lucia before the date when civilian contractors could use the six-cent military concession rate.

Since postcards did not get their own airmail rates until June 1, 1954, the sender of this one to Panama in 1943 was required to pay the full letter rate.

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