Series A cards by J. Walch & Sons

[Des_Beechey]

Walch's published 34 different series of postcards, but one series, Series A, is particularly rare. The only example I know of is shown below:

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The full title of the series is given on the back of the card - Series A.-20,000. For other Walch series, the number indicates the number of cards printed. For example, for the B-24,000 series, there were 12 cards in the series, and there were 2,000 printed of each. But there was not 20,000 printed of this Map of Tasmania card -if there had been it would be by far the most common of the Walch cards. And I have never seen any other cards of Series A.

Its a bit of a mystery. If you have any other Series A cards I'd really like to see them.

An addendum about this particular card. It seems not to be postally used, but is stamped on the front and postmarked. Was this cancelled to order? Is there something significant about the penny halfpenny overprint and the cancel date? The assistance of a philatelist is required!

Des Beechey

[admin]

Des, the 1d/12 overprint was issued in 1904 and paid the British Commonwealth and Overseas Postcard rate which had been introduced back in 1892. Its quite common on postcards of the period. I dont think there is anything particularly significant about the stamp. Why the card was franked and cancelled with no address is hard to understand. Maybe the sender intended to place an address at a later date but is seems strange. I believe the card could have been sent at the printed matter rate of 1d given there was no message (but we dont know the destination so the rates are a bit speculative).

[Ross Ewington]

I think the stamp was affixed and cancelled just as a souvenir of Hobart/Tasmania.