Kurt A. Sanftleben, LLC

“FROM . . . PRISONER NO 7162 [HELD BY] U.S PRISONER OF WAR COMPANY NO. 1 IN FRANCE.” A legal-size preprinted envelope used by a German POW.

Franz Remki

Prisoner of War Enclosure Number 1, St. Pierre des Corps, France via APO 717]. Undated but circa 1918-1919. Envelope or Cover. This partially-printed legal-size envelope from Remki was sent from Prisoner of War Enclosure Number 1 (PWE #1) at St. Pierre des Corps, France which was controlled by the A.E.F.’s Prisoners of War Company No. 1.

“Prisoner of War Letter” is printed along the top edge of the envelope. Although it bears no postmark, official A.E.F. documents report that PWE #1 was located at St. Pierre des Corps, and its mail was processed via Army Post Office (APO) 717 at Tours, France. A standard violet censor stamp is in the lower left-hand corner and a German “Gepruft / Uberwachungsstelle” (Censored / Monitoring Agency) handstamp in the upper right corner.

A partially printed message on the reverse reads, “From (Serial) No. 7162 Name Remki Franz / Prisoner of War Company No. 1 in France, care of the / Prisoner of War Information Bureau A. G. O. American E. F. / H”

(For more information, see G.H.Q.A.E.F.’s Prisoners of War: Regulations and Instructions, 1918, and “Part IV-C Prisoner of War Division” in the A.E.F Commander-in-Chief’s Report: Report of the Provost Marshal, both online.)

. Very good. Item #009781

This is, perhaps, the only extant example of a partially-printed POW envelope from an American POW camp for German soldiers; at least is the only one that we have seen, and it is not mentioned in Van Dam’s The Postal History of the AEF, 1917-1923. At the time of listing, no other PWE #1 mail is for sale in the trade, and there are no auctions recorded at the Stamp Auction Network, Worthpoint, nor the Rare Book Hub. Neither does OCLC show any institutional holdings.

Price: $175.00