Special letter at PostBeeld (1)

At PostBeeld, we regularly receive letters that tell a special story. Every now and then, I want to show and describe such a special letter on Postzegelblog. This time: A mistake by the Post. This letter was sent from Amsterdam, franked with 5 cents with perforation K, to an address in Amsterdam. For some reason, the stamp was not cancelled. However, something also went wrong during sorting. The letter ended up with mail to Cape Town in South Africa and did indeed arrive there, as evidenced by the Cape Town stamp. In the Netherlands, however, the item was also provided with a 25-cent postage due stamp because the 5-cent stamp used was not sufficient for a shipment to South Africa. In South Africa, they naturally discovered that the letter was not supposed to be there at all, so it went back to Amsterdam. Upon arrival back in Amsterdam, the letter could subsequently be delivered, but the incorrectly affixed postage due stamp first had to be declared invalid using the special purple stamp. An explanation was also provided in red. It is unclear at what point the original stamp was declared invalid with a cross. Click on the image to go to the listing at PostBeeld (the link is valid as long as the item has not yet been sold).