Manuscript forwarding agents' markings on Malta mail

Abstract

Postal historians seem to disagree on an all-embracing definition of a "Forwarding Agent". Of all those that have been proposed, none appears to have received universal acceptance. Rowe defines a Forwarding Agent as a person (or organisation) who undertook the forwarding of mail without carrying it personally. De Zanche adds that Forwarding Agents can only be considered such when they intervened in the carriage of mail between different countries. The Postal History Commission in its draft definition describes a Forwarding Agent's mark as "a cachet impressed upon, or a manuscript mark made on an item of mail which at some stage of its journey (usually between countries) has been handled by a person or organisation (a Forwarding Agent) other than the Post Office." [excerpt]