Urgent label - Teleg. Messenger

An important but rare label was used in Victoria in the 1890s to indicate that an URGENT LETTER was to be delivered immediately by the Telegraph Messenger.

Few details are known about this provision as it is not referenced explicitly in the Regulations. The two 1894 covers below have paid a 8d fee and so it can be inferred that the additional cost for the express fee was 6d. From 1901, the Express Fee, inclusive of postage, was 6d. From 1935, a more complex fee structure was introduced. In this context, it appears that the fee should have been 9d but only 6d has been paid for the two 1937 covers. Given that special labels were printed and used in at least three quite distant offices implies that the Express provision was well founded.

Only five examples of the label are known - one is in very poor condition and is not shown here.

Those printed in the Victorian Colonial era are printed in black on thin green/grey paper and applied to the envelope with gum at the top.
The label used in the Commonwealth era is printed in black on green paper and also applied to the envelope with gum at the top..

Provenance: Hugh Freeman, Johnstone. Prestige September 2011 Lot 810.	Horsham to South Richmond. 19 September 1894. Franking of 2d purple and 6d blue Stamp Duties. Size of label: 74 × 110 mm.
Provenance: Johnstone.	Northcote to Bendigo. 23 October 1894. Franking of a pair of 1d brown Naish and 6d blue Stamp Duty. Size: 70 × 110 mm.
Corinphila Dubois Collection, Sale 320, November 2023, Lot 30625.	Birchip to Melbourne City 7 April 1937. Label used on a registered envelope franked by a 6d brown Commonwealth period Kookaburra. Label has: C.O. 15 in the TRC and a Schedule number C. 6410 in the LLC. squarer full-stop after MESSENGER than with the Victorian printings.
Abacus Auctions: May 2004, November 2019 and Sale 259, March 2025, Lot 707.	Birchip to Melbourne City 23 August 1937. Label used on a registered envelope franked by a 6d brown Commonwealth period Kookaburra. Label has: C.O. 15 in the TRC and a Schedule number C. 6410 in the LLC. squarer full-stop after MESSENGER than with the Colonial Victorian printings.