Early Langport handstamp, 1776

Here is an example of the first Langport handstamp, dated inside to July 1776.

 The entire went free because it was addressed to the Secretary of the Bishop of Bath and Wells.

Triangle "871" (Weston-super-Mare) slogan cancel, 1949

The envelope below has an undated "871" triangle slogan cancel from Weston-super-Mare.  One can date the cover from the slogan to April 1949.

There is part of a second impression on the left of the envelope - I have been advised that it's a unified machine cancel with wrong tensioning of the trip mechanism (so not a continuous machine cancel).

Bourton undated circular handstamp (UDC) in yellow, January 1855

A "BOURTON" UDC was issued under Bristol on 22 May 1848, and is known used in Black from November 1848 to September 1857.  It was also known in yellow on 12 January 1855 and in green on 28 August 1857.  This UDC was for use at Flax Bourton.

There was also a "BOURTON" UDC issued under Wincanton in July 1852, for use at Bourton in Dorset, four miles to the east of Wincanton.  This UDC is known in yellow on 6 March 1853.  Bourton transferred to Bath by 1855.

Below is the example of the "BOURTON" UDC in yellow used on 12 January 1855, and attributed to Flax Bourton.

As the letter is postmarked Bath, it would not be the Flax Bourton UDC but rather the Bourton in Dorset UDC, so the example in yellow (and perhaps in green) have been assigned to the wrong Bourton.

The confusion is not helped by the overlap of postal areas - Bristol, Dorset and Somerset.

It pays to look at things twice !

I needed to look twice at the item below to spot what was interesting (apart from a fairly nice "BRITISH INDUSTRIES FAIR" slogan cancel from 1950).

Early two-line "ILMIN / STER" handstamp

The wrapper below has a two-line "ILMIN / STER" handstamp, previously unrecorded in the British County Catalogue.  Unfortunately it is undated.

Based on the London Bishop Mark and the 4d postal rate to London, it must date from 1713-1784, probably the latter part of that period.

Skeletons from Crewkerne and Montacture

Here are a couple more skeletons, the first from Crewkerne in 1898 - the skeleton is known used from 17th September to 7th October 1898.

The second is from Montacute - it is known used from 5th to 21st January 1906.  Its use was imediately after a different skeleton ("MONTACUTE / SOMERSET" rather than "MONTACUTE / ILMINSTER") which is known from 14th December to 24th December 1905.  I wonder what was in use from 25th December to 4th January ??

Early Taunton Skeletons (1840s)

Taunton used a number of Skeleton (or Traveller) handstamps in the 1840s.  These temporary handstamps were brought into use when there was a problem with the normal handstamps, for example if the normal one was being updated or replaced, or perhaps sometimes when it got mislaid.

The first skeletons (a plain "TAUNTON", no code) were from 1841, firstly in March, and then a second similar one in August.  The alignment of the lettering with the date is different between the two.  As "TAUNTON" has seven letters it has to either be slanted to the left or to the right compared to the date (it can't be symmetrical).  The March skeleton is to the right, the August one is to the left.

A "TAUNTON / +" skeleton was then in use in March 1842.

The next skeleton ("TAUNTON / 2") known was used in August 1846.

The final skeleton currently known used at Taunton in the 1840s is in a different format, a blue "TAUNTON / 7" single ring, known in February 1849.

East Pennard UDC, 1850

Below is an example of the "EAST-PENNARD" serif undated circular handstamp (UDC) used in 1850 at the end of its known period of use (1844-1850).

I have been looking for an example of this handstamp for a while.