Sunday 14 June 2015

Bath Straight-Line Handstamps 1706 to 1808

According to the British County Catalogue [1992], Bath used 15 different straight-line handstamps between 1706 to 1808, plus one re-use in 1832 (this does not include the four single-line and two-line mileage marks). Within this list there are a number of date ranges where no handstamp is recorded in the BCC (1717-1720, 1727-1729, 1735-1741, 1743-1749 and 1762-1771). The handstamps recorded are of different sizes, but one is never entirely clear on how squarely the handstamp was struck or how the sizes in the BCC were measured (eg. does one include the serifs ?), so matching a handstamp to the BCC, or identifying a potential new handstamp, is not easy.

It is also a little strange to see handstamps overlapping, for example SO 77 (1798-1807) overlaps with SO 83 (1804-1805), with the "BATH / 109" mileage mark SO 80 (1801-1804) in the middle as well.  This leads me to suspect that maybe the marks labelled as SO 77 are not all from the same handstamp.

Click here to see a pdf document that illustrates the Bath straight-line handstamps in my collection, along with their assignment to a BCC catalogue number where the approximate sizes and dates match.

Can you help work out which handstamps match the BCC and which are potentially new ones ? Where do your examples fit (and can you fill the gaps) ?

Potential changes to the BCC are identified below in red.


Cat No
Type
Handstamp Comments
Size (mm)
Colour
Dates
Rarity

29
4
BATH
16x5
Black
1706-08
G

31
4
BATH
18x6
Black
1708
G

32
4
BATH-X for Cross Post letters only
27x5?
Black
Jun 1710
H+

33
4
BATH
25x6
Black
1712-16
G

36
2
BATH in one line
15x4
Black
1721-26
F

39
4
BATH
31x8
Black
1730-34
F

P 41
4
BATH
26x8
Black
1738-39


43
4
BATH
26x12
Black
1742
F

48
4
BATH
27x8
Black
1750-57
F

50
4
BATH
31x9
Black
1760-61
F

P 51
4
BATH
Medium width “A”
Usage sometime May 1764 to May 1766, & ?61 or ?68
30x8
Black
1765 ?


P 53
4
BATH Wide “A”, pronounced serifs
30x8
Black
1768-72


55
4
BATH Small serifs, 1777 & 1782
30x7
Black
1772-82
E

58
4
BATH T has large serifs
32x8
Black
1766-67 & 1781
E

P 59
4
BATH Tapered
23x5-8
Black
1781


61
4
BATH
25x6
Black
1776 & 1783
D

64
27
113 BATH single line
33x5
Black
1784
F

66
26
BATH / 110 figures 6½ mm high
26x16
Black
1784-86
F

68
26
BATH / 110 figures 5mm high
25x14
Black
1786-87
F

71
4
BATH was 1788-95
23x5
Black
1788-91
D

P 73
4
BATH
24x5
Black
1791-95


74
4
BATH
30x4
Black
1795-96
D

P 76
4
BATH split from SO 77
30x6
Black
1798-02


77
4
BATH altered dates
30x5
Black
1802-04
C

80
29
BATH / 109
19x10
Black
1801-04
E

83
12
BATH
24x4
Black
1804-05
D

86
4
BATH
28x5
Black
1805-08
C

P 87
4
BATH
29x4
Black
1810

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