Dr. Franke was a German Government Medical Officer in Apia, Samoa, from 1905-1909.  During this period and during his later service in Germany’s African colonies, he traveled extensively to non-German areas, and used this as an opportunity to create numerous philatelic items combining German postage with local, non-German postmarks.  These items are commonly known as “Franke Letters”.

This item was mailed from Levuka, Fiji, on 20 December 1908, using postage from Samoa.