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I believe this is BN 66 of Oyster Cove. However, I am not quite sure. I dont believe its 99 but I may be wrong.
Give the stamp is a keyplate it should be the second issue of this BN. The small size of the font supports this
I would appreciate any confirmation or otherwise especially as if I am correct this is a 5R BN.

I think you have a partial strike of 299. I think the font size should be larger for a 66. Other thoughts?

Thanks Jerry. You may be right but I am not quite sure. I will see if I can find a BN 299 for comparison. Hardinge in Courier #51 states there were two issues of BN66 ( and a third with it inverted to make 99) and the second was in a smaller font than the first.
There is a slight possibility its BN 99 of Taylors Bay if its not BN 299 .
In Hardinge's BN listings he says the first BN 66 was lost and replaced with a second from 1970-1973. I see from the Post Office openings and closings lists that Oyster cover was open 1857 - 1973, 1892 - 1897 and 1897 to 1924.
On refection and with a bit of further research i dont think it can be Oyster Cove as it seems the BN was lost or destroyed and the PO burnt down in 1873.
Hardinge's annual allocation/re-llocation table in Courier #49 says BN 66 was re-issued in 1883 as a new type and allocated as 99 to Taylors Bay so there is a sight chance thats what it it. The keyplate stamp was first issued in 1892 I think and Taylors Bay was open at that time.
Any further comments welcolmed.

Sad to say it's a part strike of 299. There are two types of 66, both used at Oyster Cove, one used 1861-69(approx), the other used 1869-73.

As for 99, this is a very ratre number used 1861-83 or so at Taylors Bay before being replaced by the first alloction 66 issued again as 99. It's use ceased in 1893.

sorry Pete, there's no oysters at Waratah.

Could one or more of the BN experts tell whether this is a 66 or a 99 and which office it was used at please?

It's the second allocation BN66 as used at Oyster Cover. If it were '99' on this stamp, it would have to be the first allocation '66'
(that was used inverted as '99' at Taylor's Bay/Little Taylor's Bay 1883/93) and I am fairly certain that this isn't 'it'.

BN 99 was issued first in 1861 according to John Hardinge's research, but lost and re-issued in 1883 using the first allocation numeral 66 of Port Cygnet.
I have a copy of the latter which is shown below, both as 66, and inverted as 99.
I have an image of the original BN 99 somewhere but cannot locate it at present.
Your example looks very similar to my BN 66 of Oyster cove.
BN 66, issued as one of the very fist batch of 186, was replace in December 1870 with a second version. I am guessing that between the two the ms cancels occasionally seen were produced. I do not at present have an example but clearly there were two versions of 66 and they would have looked slightly different. The first version is rated 4R and the second 5R so both are very hard to find.. The stamp upon which the numeral is seen will give a good indication of which version it is.


Here is First Allocation 66 And here is the same cancellation inverted to show how it must have looked as second allocation 99.

I hope this helps with identification of the second issue of BN 99