Sunday 29 July 2012

Glastonbury Duplex cancels and CDS

According to Parmenter, Glastonbury had a number of duplex cancels both 4VOD and 3VOD - I only have examples of the latter.  The town cancels on the first two are of different sizes (20mm and 21mm).
 The duplex cancels are known in use until 1910, which overlaps with the single-ring cancel seen below from 1908.
 And finally a double circle double-arc cancel from 1930 - "unfortunately it has rained hard all afternoon".

Wednesday 25 July 2012

Glastonbury - Numeric Obliterator

Some examples of the Glastonbury numeric Obliterator - Glastonbury was "311" - and the dated double-arc handstamp.
 
 
The "No.2" Receiving House handstamp continued in use, probably as a receiving house cancel for Street.

Sunday 22 July 2012

Glastonbury - pre-1840

According to the British County Catalogue the earliest Glastonbury two line handstamp was in use from 1772.  The earliest I have are the fairly common straight-line handstamps with mileage (135) in use from 1822 to 1836.  There is also a rarer handstamp with a mileage of 134 miles to London (in use from 1811-1820).

Firstly an introduction taken from Pigot's Commercial Directory of 1844:
 Then a map from c.1888.
A couple of entires with "GLASTONBURY / 135" handstamps:
  Glastonbury had a Penny Post.  According to Oxley the Receiving Houses were Street, Ashcott, Shepwick, Walton, Kings Weston and Butleigh, the last of which he assigns as No.5.  The entire below from Street has a boxed "No.2" handstamp - it is probably that Street was No.2 and Ashcott was No.1.

Saturday 21 July 2012

Kenilworth Stamp Fair

Just spent the morning at a stamp fair in Kenilworth trying to drum up new members for the local stamp clubs.  Only a couple of potential recruits, we'll have to see if they come along to a meeting when the season starts in September.  The next fair in Kenilworth is on the 22nd September 2012.

Wednesday 18 July 2012

Mobile Post Office No.3

An envelope with multiple single-ring "MOBILE POST OFFICE NO.3" cancels dated 27th July 1960, sent registered (with a Chard registration etiquette).  The postage was 3d plus 1/- for the minimum registration fee to cover £10 compensation.
According to a list available to download on the British Postmark Society website, Mobile Post Office No.3 was at the Chard & District Agricultural Show from 26th to 27th July 1960.

Sunday 15 July 2012

Frome - CDS and machine cancels

Finally some examples of more modern cancels - a circular date stamp from 1909:
A couple of machine cancels:
 And a modern single circle cancel:

Wednesday 11 July 2012

Frome - Barred Numeral Cancels

Frome was Post Office number "306".  The first barred numeral cancels it had were horizontal (4HOS and 3HOS).
Two vertical barred cancels (4VOS and 3VOS) were registered but have not been recorded in use.  This was followed by a horizontal duplex (3CD) and then a series of vertical duplex cancels (4VODA, 4VODB and 3VOD).
 
And finally an example of a postage due handstamp "1D / 306" in conjunction with a vertical duplex (3VOD).

Sunday 8 July 2012

Frome, 19th century to the Uniform Penny Post

A couple of examples of Frome handstamps with mileage:
 
A nice "Paid at Frome" cachet:
An undated double-arc handstamp:
And a double-arc dated handstamp from after the introduction of the uniform penny post:

Saturday 7 July 2012

Somerset & Dorset Postal History Group website moved

Because BT have decided to close down the webspace they provide to their domestic customers, the website for the Somerset & Dorset Postal History Group has had to move.

The new website address is:
              https://sites.google.com/site/sanddphg/

Please access it and update your bookmarks.  Do let me know of any problems.

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Frome in the 18th Century

A couple of postcards to illustrate Frome first:
The first straight-line cancel for Frome ("FROOM") in the British County Catalogue (BCC) is for 1760-1778 - below is an example from 1777, a nice example on an entire asking for Christian books to be sent on the Frome wagon:
My next example is from 1791 and does not appear in the BCC:
Finally, my last entire from the 18th century, an example of the "FROME" reverse-arc cancel on a cross-post item: