tps.org.au

Hello
Finding a stamp I bought several months ago, but I didn't remember what is it link with.
Is anybody able to say which town is it or which postmaster cancel the stamp like that?
I guess it's signed: JMJ or JMZ Many thanks for your help

Laurent

Laurent,
Can you tell us what the watermark is?
On 30 Sept 1863 Tasmania introduced Stamp Duty - tax revenue on financial transactions such as Leases, contracts, and similar documents. The Duty was paid with stamps and the stamps were cancelled with the date by pen - day, month and year.
Before that date, most manuscript ( pen) markings on stamps were postal and often the postmaster cancelled the stamp with the town name if there was no numeral canceller available. However, after Sept 1863 there are many stamps cancelled with the date and used for paying stamp duty. More like this than postal use after 1863.

If the stamp is a Star or no watermark then its likely a postal cancel. If its a lined numeral 4 then it could be either stamp duty or postal use.

I cant make out what the cancel on your stamp is but at least if its a star or no watermark we can say its probably some sort of postal cancel.
If its a numeral watermark my guess is its part of a date and probably not postal use but stamp duty, but its only a guess.
It looks more like a part of a date to me but again its a guess. I dont think have seen this before.

Pete

Thanks Pete, for your help.
It´s lined numéral 4.
Then maybe it could be fiscal cancellation. But the second letter really look like a "M". So my question...
Regards
Laurent

Laurent,
I really cant work out what the cancel is but my feeling is its part of a date somehow and most likely fiscal.
I have tried to see if any of the usual postal pen cancellations would fit with the example in some way but cant see anything familiar.
The chances are greater that its fiscal - these are more common as most postal manuscript endorsements are not often seen.
Maybe we will never be sure, or maybe someone else can identity it?

Pete

There is a possibility that it is "Torq..." for Torquay reading upwards. The "T' is in the style of the mss. "Torquay" which is one of the more common of the postmasters endorsements although they are all hard to find.

Malcolm

Now that Malcolm mentions Torquay and I check an example, it may well be Torquay. It opened after the first allocation numerals were issued so never had a numeral canceller until 1861, second allocation.

many thanks for all your help,
again The Bulletin Board is really helpfull.
What I don't understand is why the manuscript cancellation is not parallel to the stamp? Like on your one d strip of four, or on several cancel I have
Some idea?
Thanks again
Laurent

All the Torquay manuscript cancels I have seen are placed horizontally across the stamp like the example I posted.
They vary a lot in size, always being sized to fit neatly in a single stamp or right across a block ( I am quoting from 8 examples).

However, there were no instructions to Postmasters as far as I know regarding how to cancel stamps and nothing like the strict instructions and inspections which were issued to the french postal system in the early period. As a result, cancels of all types in Tasmania are much less neat and clear as a general rule than the French postal markings which you know well - the placement of the cancel tends to be more random.

I dont know why it would have been written at an angle on the stamp but I think its a fair assumption your example was part of a multiple franking and it might be the Postmaster cancelled diagonally across a block or a number of stamps. Given, if its Torquay, then there was probably a date at the bottom as well, and the postmaster usually tried to cover all the stamps with the Town name and date .

Its a guess and I have not seen diagonal cancel for Torquay before, but some of these early manuscript cancels are written diagonally.

Pete

I've attached an example of Torquay with a vertical postal manuscript. I agree with the earlier comments that a majority of the Torquay manuscripts are written across the stamps but as you can see there are exceptions. I think the manuscript orientations are related to the orientation of the stamp when affixed to the cover. I also have the 4d Courier with Torquay manuscript inverted, vertical, and diagonal. (I didn't post these because they were not Chalons, but can if anyone is interested.)