Chief Office Hobart Town

[John Shepherd]

This cancelling device was introduced in about 1865. It is thought that it was used at the Money Order ("MO")counter of the Hobart Town GPO. The MO system came into being on 1 May 1865.

It is unlisted in the Greenbooks.

Examples are very occasionally seen on Chalons. I have seen about half a dozen over the years, but no more. I do not believe that the examples were "mis-struck" on stamp on postal covers as no example has ever been seen on cover.

A more sound explanation is if the payment of the money order fee was in stamps, the stamps were then cancelled by the CHIEF OFFICE HOBART TOWN cds. The MO fees (called "commission") ranged from 6d to 5/-, depending on the value of the MO and the destination. Interestingly, the Regulations and the Rules for the operation of the Money Order system (reproduced in Orchard Vol.3. pp.95-101) do not specify whether payment of the commission was to be in cash or stamps. Presumably in a majority of cases the commission was paid in cash but in some cases was paid in stamps.




1. Dated 1868 (Jan 13) on 1d carmine perf 10 strip of three. Realised $1000 in Prestige #150



2. Dated 1865 (Nov 7) on 1d Brick/Vermilion imperforate. This is the earliest date I have seen.



3. Dated 1867 (Sept 4) on 1/- perforated. The Earl collection (1980) had an example dated 1867 on a 1/-, which is probably this example.

4. An example exists on an unstamped form dated 1872.

[Revenuer]

John you beat me to it, i was going to open this in the Revenue thread after Prestige results. Wonder who paid 1g for this item? a lot of dosh.

I can only add one copy to your listing from my collection, here:

co1.jpg (51.36 KiB) Viewed 2380 times

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Does anybody have a date of issue of this MO cancel here:

mosb1.jpg (65.63 KiB) Viewed 2380 times

Dave

[John Shepherd]

Dave, your example on the 3d St George (nice item, BTW) confirms the 'revenue' status of the canceller.

This marking, as Keith Lancaster used to say, is "a rare bird".

[Peter Allan]

As John Shepherd says, Orchard records the relevant Regs for Money Orders - P 95 Orchard Tasmanian Post Office Acts and Regulations 1861 - 68. Money Order regs were issued in March 1865. Part 7 states that MOs were current for 6 months, after which they would lapse, but could be re-issued on payment of an additional commission. Part 8 states lapsed orders may be considered for replacement on application to the Comptroller of the Money Order Office at the Chief Office of the the country in which it was issued . Presumably in Tasmania's case this would be the Hobart GPO, hence the Chief Office stamp would be used by the Money Order Comptroller at the HObart GPO.
Although not explicitely stated, its possible that the fee for a replacement for a lapsed order to the MO Comptroller at the Chief Office might be receipted by the issue of postage stamps, and cancelled with the Chief Office stamp.

[Revenuer]

Peter Do you have reference to the regs prior to 1891 this may give a different detail to it’s use?....Dave

[Peter Allan]

Dave, my post above is from the first Post Office Money Order regs issued by the Colonial Treasury 20th March 1865. The item at the Prestige Auction is dated 1868 so its a safe bet these regs applied to that stamp. I have also looked at the Rules for the Guidance of Postmasters in transacting Money Order Business which were issued arounbd the same time although I do not see a date on them. The latter refer to the Chief Office specifically and there are a set of Regs for the Chief Office as well as regs for the 10 Post Offices. The Regs also refer to the Post Office form which John Shepherd posted in this topic. When you see the Chief Office stamp on that form its clear that the Chief Office, which was where the Comptroller of the Money Order Office was located was where such forms were returned by the 10 Post Offices which were able to issue MO, and that the Chief Office had responsibility to deal with lost or expired MOs - ordinary Post Offices could not issue replacements.
The "Rules for Guidance ..." do make it clear that a second commission was payable on the issue of duplicate MOs, and we know from the Regs that requests for replacement of expired MOs had to go to the Chief Office, so its a safe bet that the use of the Chief Office stamp could have been to receipt payment of the extra commission on re-issuing of MOs.
I guess the question is with regard to later dated Chief Office stamps, were any other functions performed by the Chief Office. I havnt looked at later regs to see if any new functions were added. As the Chief Office is actually the Head Office of the Post Office in Tas ( my assumption but it seems clear), then you would think that use of the Chief Office stamp would be confined to Post Office functions rather than Revenue functions such as stamp duty etc, but thats only my assumption.
I'll see if later regs shed any light on later useage of the Chief Office stamp but theres a lot of reading involved so it may take a while !
Hope that helps

[John Hardinge]

I think you will find itv was definately used in the MOO. LIke all cancellers it probably sometimes "strayed" to other areas. I have seen it on letter bills before, so saw some use elsewhere.

[Revenuer]

Another one for this listing

Chief Office.jpg (25.57 KiB) Viewed 2169 times

[admin]

Thanks Dave,
That makes 7 examples listed on this page and I have seen a copy in the collection of Randall Askeland, so making 8 known at least.

Pete.

[Revenuer]

Here is another for the list

chief office1.jpg (21.8 KiB) Viewed 1934 times

[Revenuer]

This may be the EKD noted above but with missing picture

Screen Shot 2012-05-30 at 12.52.42 PM.png (352.32 KiB) Viewed 1732 times

[Revenuer]

Graphic copyright by Prestige Philately

705846.jpg (133.67 KiB) Viewed 1734 times