Scarcer Circular Datestamps on Pre-Pictorial Issues

[Ross Ewington]

Interest has been increasing in collecting the scarcer circular datestamps on stamps
issued prior to the Pictorial Series of 1899/1912. There are many rarities, resulting
from the required procedure (from 1861 through to 1900) of cancelling stamps with a barred
numeral obliterator and applying the post office circular datestamp to the envelope.
Occasionally though, often as a result of multiple frankings on registered and larger
covers, some stamps did in fact receive an impression of the town cancel.

In comparison with the number of stamps from the period that survive to this day,
the number of covers and other complete postal articles is minuscule to say the least
.... therefore, few envelopes = a very small chance of locating cds postmarks from
many of the smaller towns like Orrville.

orrville.jpg (76.62 KiB) Viewed 19735 times

If you have any images of scarcer postmarks on pre-Pictorial issues, please post them here.

[Ross Ewington]

DEEP LEAD / AP 9 99 / TASMANIA

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[Ross Ewington]

PIEMAN BRIDGE / OC 30 99 / TASMANIA

p276.jpg (95.12 KiB) Viewed 19734 times

[John Hardinge]

Many scarce CDS from this period that are known only as singletons such as Cornwall Type 1b, Ida Bay Type 1(no circle stops), Glen Quion, Tinder Box Bay, Bowood, Taylors Bay etc. Still quite a few that are yet to be seen: Rinadeena, St Aubyn's, Ring River, Willow Brook, Upper carlton, Huon Road, plus others. Really intersesting area as little researched.

[Ross Ewington]

RUMNEY HUTS / NO 10 99 / TASMANIA

rumney huts.jpg (20.06 KiB) Viewed 19721 times

[Ross Ewington]

LAGUNTA / MY 17 02 / TASMANIA

lagunta 17.5.02.jpg (32.05 KiB) Viewed 19721 times

[Ross Ewington]

LONG BAY / DE 28 92 / TASMANIA

long bay.jpg (61.24 KiB) Viewed 19721 times

[Ross Ewington]

TEA TREE / AP 8 __ / TASMANIA

tea tree.jpg (23.57 KiB) Viewed 19721 times

[RogerKinns]

TEE POO KANA / OC 9 99 / TASMANIA

Tee Poo Kana, OC 9 97 cds & BN367

TeePooKana.jpg (174.41 KiB) Viewed 19712 times

I believe that this item was previously in the Keith Lancaster collection. It is obviously rare, with the first cds of Teepookana, shown as Tee Poo Kana, dated 9 October 1899 (the second '9' in the year date, which is only partly inked, has a sharp top right corner, which makes it look like a '7' at first sight). This cds is superimposed on a clear strike of BN 367. The item was bought on Ebay for US$195 in December 2007. The later cds, which is found on pictorials, does not have the spaces in the name. Does anyone have a similar item? Roger Kinns

[Ross Ewington]

Lovely postmark!

To compare the Tee Poo Kana cds above (with syllables spaced out) with the type
seen on the Pictorial issues use this link.

http://tps.org.au/bb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4#p5

To return to this topic, simply use the backspace key on your keyboard or the "back button" on your browser.

[shatten]

Circular date stamps were used on various forms such as letter bills and telegraph forms - not just on items of mail. Is this an appropriate forum to seek out examples of rarer CDS on non-mail items?
Also, I'm interested to know if there is any research on when the various CDS first came into existence. I have examples on letter bills that are many years prior to 1900.

[John Shepherd]

Hi Shatten

There are many books on the subject, the primary ones being:

*Tasmania Postal History & Postal Markings Vols I & II - for Colonial period - out of print but readily available at auction for around $120 the pair.

*Tasmanian Hand Cancellations 1912-1988 Vols I & II - for the Commonwealth Period - available from Philately Books at $27 each: http://www.philatelybooks.com/show_cat. ... =98&type=1

The second reference covers telegraph use. These volumes have been updated in The Courier - the journal of the Tasmanian Philatelic Society - if you are interested in joining details can be found at: http://www.tps.org.au/html/membership.html

Regards

John Shepherd

[John Hardinge]

I would like to see something published that covers all Tasmanian CDS. I do have an A-Z listing of all Tasmanian CDS along with articles and information regarding their chronological dates of use. Also have these for the first and second allocation numerals. In regards to the pre "Commonwealth" era CDS I do have a listing of the CDS by date of introduction. If people are interested in a copy of this part of the list, slip me an email at jhardinge@skilled.com.au and will be happy to oblige.

John


Things that I have written some detail on are:

1)An A-Z listing of all Tas CDS with late and early dates, ratings, notes etc. Includes Launceston and Hobart and covers 1821-1995.

2) A chronological listing of the introduction of CDS in Tasmania from 1861-1975. Includes notes re diferent "types" and manufacturers

3) A chronological listing of the openings and closings of all Tas P.O, RH's, T.O's etc from 1832 to 2008. Attempts to match the numbers against the offical numer of P.O's open in Tasmania

4)A listing of types and ratings for second allocation numerals

5)A listing covering the introduction of both the first and second allocation of numerals and the offices they are tied to.

6) An article on the Railway T.O's, how they worked and the cancels known and probably still to be seen

7) An article of the T.P.O's

8) An article re the skelton reliefs

9) An article re the "cut down" reliefs

If people require any information would be happy to assist if indeed I can

[shatten]

Hi folks, I'm aware of the green books.

I have trawled through quite a few letter bills, resulting in a lot of updates to the tables of CDS on pages 38 - 41 of part 2. Some of my letter bills have CDS that aren't recorded in the tables at all and other examples are updates are early or late dates.

As an example, attached is a Black Brush CDS for 13 May 1880. Black Brush is RR for 1900 - 1912, and isn't listed in pp 38 - 41. I'm happy to supply any data that I have - Mr Hardinge probably already has a much more complete set of updates.

[John Shepherd]

Contact John Hardinge and see if you can improve on the dates that he has.

[Ross Ewington]

Hi Allen,

Thanks for posting your Black Brush .... it's a very early strike with the ERD being AP 1 80.

John's work on the postmarks before 1900 is very advanced and I think it would be good to forward anything
that you may think "could be good" directly to him so if you have made a discovery or three he can incorporate
the information into his listing right away. (if you click on "Members" in the UR corner you can send a PM to John from there)

You may also like to start your own topic on the Letter Bills if you have a few of them .... I don't think anyone
has done much on that subject for quite a number of years.

cheers ... Ross

[RogerKinns]

This example of Lady's Bay is dated 7 April 1903. It's a nice clear strike, with about as much as could be hoped falling on the small format stamp. As often, the date stamp has not been set correctly, with an inverted 'AP'!

[Peter Allan]

Thanks to Allen for bringing up the subject of letter Bills. They certainly are a very useful source of postmarks as well as a wealth of other intelligence about the early mail service.
I have a MS cancell on a Letter Bill for Black Brush from 1881( sadly, no cds on this one), an image of which I have posted below.
Also, another of the scarcer cds, I found a Blue Tier Junction from 1881, which I believe is one of less common cds from this period. At this stage I wont post any images of more common cds on Letter Bills unless someone has a particluarl interest, but here is a list of those that I have found:
Oatlands May 21 '74, My 18 '74
Brighton Jan 5 76, Au 28 71, My 8 '80, Jun 15 '80, My 10 83
Bothwell ? 30 '74
Avoca My 11 75
Cranbrook My 6 '85
Georges Bay Ja 28 77,
Jerusalem SP 24 86
Mout Seymour My 16 85
New Norfolk 16 Dec 84
Richmond Oc 23 '85
St Helens SP 16 85
Tunbridge My 6 '85
Tunnach NO 15 '83.
Finally, I see that many Letter Bills do not have a CDS endorsement at all. Hobart has a printed endorsement "Generall Post Office Hobart," printed on the right hand side, while Launceston has a similar, " Post Office Launceston" endorsement printed on the letter Bill. Smaller Offices often have the Post Office name written in manuscript, such as the Black Brush below, but sometiems use their cds . Does anyoneone have any information about the regulations and practice as regards using cds on Letter Bills ?

letter-bills_Black-Brush.jpg (40.18 KiB) Viewed 19147 times

letter-bills-Blue-Tier-Junction.jpg (34.57 KiB) Viewed 19147 times

[Ross Ewington]

"Just" on a pre-Pictorial issue - CATAMARAN MY 16 94 TASMANIA

catamaran my 16 94.jpg (37.39 KiB) Viewed 19143 times

[Malcolm Groom]

Orrville 1d sideface.JPG (16.47 KiB) Viewed 19127 times

A further example of Orrville on Sideface for the record. Once again a nice sharp strike.

[Ross Ewington]

PIEMAN BRIDGE · NO 19 98 · TASMANIA ... if only it could be
found this good on Pictorials!!
[attachment=0]g500.jpg[/attachment]

[Ross Ewington]

HONEYWOOD on a 1d QV sideface - the year is not discernible unfortunately.
[attachment=0]honeywood on 1d sf.jpg[/attachment]

It's not often that you see two Honeywood postmarks for sale at the same time ... this example
was offered as part of eBay lot 370454061018. A very good example on a 2d Pictorial was offered (also
on eBay) as item 230544899508 with a "buy it now" price of AU$700. An image of this postmark can be'
viewed at http://tps.org.au/bb/viewtopic.php?f=9& ... t=60#p2038

Thanks to TPS member Dawn Izurieta for the large image.

[Ross Ewington]

LYNCH'S CREEK · NO 28 88 · TASMANIA

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[Ross Ewington]

STRAHAN No.2 · JU 2 99 ·TASMANIA on a 4d QV Sideface ..... rated (R)R on Pictorial

eb1079.jpg (31.71 KiB) Viewed 19591 times

[Ross Ewington]

Another strike of STRAHAN No.2 from 1898

b147.jpg (36.09 KiB) Viewed 19493 times

and some multiple strikes of MACQUARIE PLAINS STN · AP 5 01 · TASMANIA

b151.jpg (102.6 KiB) Viewed 19493 times