Boxed "No.1" Handstamp in the Bath Penny Post, November 1817

Prior to this cover, no use of a boxed "No.1" receiving house handstamp had been recorded in the Bath Penny Post.  The cover is a Norwich Union Insurance form addressed to Dublin and bears inside an address of "Batheaston".

The entire has a "BATH / Penny Post" handstamp and two Bath circular mileage marks dated 1st and 2nd November 1817, with a Dublin lozenge receiving mark on the reverse dated 5th November 1817.

The two Bath circular mileage marks are probably because the letter arrived too late to catch the mail coach.

The Bath Penny Post was announced in September 1810 as having receiving houses at Walcot, Batheaston, Bathford, Widcombe, Twerton, Weston and Winifred's Dale.  The assignment of the boxed "No.1" handstamp to Batheaston is slightly problematic as later examples from Batheaston in 1830 have boxed "No.2" receiving handstamps, so if these are both correct then the handstamp transferred between the two dates.  An example of the boxed "No.2" exists from 1813 but unfortunately it has no address associated with it.

Entire from Ammerdown Park with unboxed "No.24" receiving house handstamp of Radstock, December 1837

The entire below was written at Ammerdown Park, about 2 miles SE of Radstock and sent to Baltonsbury in December 1837.  It has the unboxed "No.24" receiving house handstamp of Radstock.

Bath Penny Post from Oakhill with boxed "No.18" handstamp, July 1833

The entire below is from Oakhill cottage to Lincolnshire and has a boxed "No.18" receiving house handstamp, used at Oakhill.  The "BATH" double-arc datestamp has the last digit of the year omitted (the date inside is 1st July 1833).

 

Bath boxed mileage mark and a London Free mark from 1801

The front below was posted in Bath on the 29th September 1801 and bears a Bath boxed mileage mark and a very clear London Free mark.

The front is endorsed "J. King" who was possibly Sir John Dashwood King, MP for Chipping Wycombe from 1796 to 1831.

Entire sent Free from Bath in 1791

The 1791 entire below was sent Free by "A. Gardner" originally from Bath to Suffolk, then redirected back to London.  As a result it has multiple London Free marks dated 18th and 21st November 1791.

Bath mileage mark to Ireland in 1786/1787

The part-entire below unfortunately does not have a date, but must come from between April 1786 and April 1787 based on the "BATH / 110" handstamp.  It was going to Ireland, the postal rate for which was the rate to London (5d) plus 6d for London to Dublin.  It then incurred another 4d for over 30 Irish miles.

Commercial mail from Bristol - Heinz and Imperial Tobacco

Here are a couple of examples of commercial mail from Bristol, starting with an envelope from H.J. Heinz Co. Ltd. in 1938, with an illustration of the Heinz factory in London on the reverse.

The contents were a letter from the Bristol office about a course in London.

The second item is a windowed envelope from The Imperial Tobacco Company sent in August 1940, with two KGVI stamps with "IT / C" perfins.

Two-line Wellington handstamp from 1780

The entire below, with a date inside of 2nd August 1780, has a two-line "WELLING / TON" handstamp, known in use 1780-1781.  Based on its clarity, I would surmise that the handstamp was fairly new at the time.

'Mulready' homage on the occasion of Bill Barrell's move to Lincolnshire in 1995

The item below is an homage to the Mulready design on the occasion of Bill Barrell's move to Lincolnshire in 1995.