Forwarding agent (philately)

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A forwarding agent was an intermediary who facilitated the routing of international mail before the development of the modern postal system.

A forwarding agent's cachet is "A strike or endorsement applied to a letter to indicate that it had been handled in transit by means other than the Postal Service."^[1] Their markings are distinguished, and can be a collectible.^[2]

In the early days of postal communications it was often necessary for international mail to pass through a number of hands before reaching its eventual destination. At each stage the agent would add their own mark. For instance, a letter might pass first through the sender's domestic post office's hands, then to a forwarder for a sea journey and then to the post office of the destination country.

The study of the marks of forwarding agents on mail is a popular branch of postal history.

• Thomas Fletcher Waghorn

• Rowe, Kenneth. The postal history and markings of the forwarding agents. (1st edition 1966, supplement 1974, 2nd ed. 1984, 3rd ed. 1996. ISBN 0-917528-12-3)

• Images of Forwarding Agents marks used on Venezuela Stamps.
• Images of Forwarding Agents marks used on British Malaya Stamps.
• List of Hong Kong Forwarding Agents.
• List of Forwarding Agents from Kenneth Rowe's book.