Some Bristol Security Overprints

As an alternative to Perfins, some firms applied a security overprint for use on stamps used for receipts.  All of the examples below are from 1952 or early 1953. 

Maggs & Co. was a large department store on Queen's Road.

The South Western Electricity Board used to be Bristol Electricity before it was nationalised.

Below is an example of an impressed 2d duty stamp used by Bristol United Breweries.

The example below is from Bristol United Press Ltd.

And finally one from the South Western Gas Board in January 1953 along with some postal stationery from 1947.

"Stamp Inadmissable", 1938

The envelope below also has a Bristol Postage Due mark but for a somewhat different type of reason.  It was posted on 27th January 1938 bearing an 1880 Queen Victoria 1d venetian red stamp as well as a KGVI ½d.  The QV stamps was circled and marked "Stamp inadmissable", and the envelope was charged 2d postage due.

In 1901 Queen Victoria stamps that were earlier than the 1881 "postage and revenue" stamps were invalidated.  The remaining QV stamps were invalidated from 1st July 1915.

Bristol Postage Dues - part 4

Finally (for the moment) here are some slightly later postage dues from Bristol.  I'm not clear why the top postcard sent in 1920 franked with the international postcard rate at the time of 1d, was marked with the Bristol hexagonal tax mark, but by 1931, the date of the lower postcard, the international rate had risen to 1½d so the postcard was underfranked.

Below are more examples from when the domestic postcard rate had risen.  The lower postcard has the later style charge mark, "1D / TO PAY / 134" rather than the olderstyle "2D / 134" of the top card.

... again the examples below are international postcards only franked at 1d when the rate had risen to 1½d.

The envelope below sent in December 1948 has a Canadian meter mark that was flagged with a turquoise "T / 6 / CENTIMES" tax mark which was translated in to 1½d to pay - indicated by 1d and ½d "TO PAY" charge marks.  The postage due stamps were cancelled by straight line cancels, a type of cancel also known used in 1940.

The two underfranked international postcards below have the later style "TO PAY" charge marks.  The lower card from 1954 also has a black framed "INSUFFICIENTLY / PREPAID" cachet.

Here is another example of the "TO PAY" charge mark and framed "INSUFFICIENTLY / PREPAID" cachet, this time on a domestic postcard from 1951.  The domestic postcard rate increased to 2d in May 1940.

Bristol Postage Dues - part 3

Yet more .... starting with a postcard that had an embossed design so was not valid as a postcard and was charged at the domestic Letter Rate with 1d postage due.

.... two postcards from the USA franked at the domestic rate so also 1d postage due on each.

.... a couple of unfranked postcards, one from 1908 when the rate was ½d, and one from 1920 when it was 1d.

This postcard sent in 1909 had a packet of shamrock seed attached to the front so was invalid and charged at the Letter Rate.

Outgoing postcards had hexagonal "T" tax marks with the value indicating the deficiency in gold centimes.  They were both only bearing the domestic rate stamps.

Back going the other way, this card from the USA only had the domestic postcard postage.

Bristol Postage Dues - part 2

Some more postage dues from Bristol, starting with a postcard from Canada that was only franked at the 1c domestic postcard rate (=½d) so incurred 1d postage due.  Note that the stamp was on the picture side.  The UK probably had a bilateral agreement with Canada (or the British Empire countries) that permitted stamps on the picture side.

The postcard below from the USA was franked at the correct international postcard rate but was treated as a letter because it was a divided postcard and the USA did not authorise these for use until the 1906 Rome UPU convention came into force on 1st October 1907.

Two postcards that had glitter on the picture side so were liable to the letter rate.

Until the implementation of the 1906 Rome UPU convention on 1st October 1907, stamps had to be on the address side of postcards (UNLESS the two countries concerned had a separate bilateral agreement - see the earlier Canada example).  This postcard from France had the stamp on the wrong side so was treated as a letter and charged 3d postage due ... BUT the stamp has been removed - if this was done at the time the postcard should probably have been treated as an unfranked postcard and only been liable for 2d postage due !

This postcard was franked at the correct international rate but had glitter on the picture side so was treated as a letter and thus liable to 3d postage due.

Bristol Postage Dues - part 1

The next few posts are going to focus on Bristol Postage Dues.  There are some common causes for covers owing postage due, one of the most common is being posted without a stamp, as shown in the postcard below from Penarth to Bristol in May 1904 which received a large "1d" charge mark.

Another very common cause of postage due is postcards with glitter on the front, which was not allowed and made the postcard liable to the letter rate.

Postcard from abroad that were underfranked, typically with the domestic rather than the international rate, were also common, as in the example below from Canada that was franked on the picture side (more of this later !).

The unfranked domestic postcard below also had glitter on the front so was liable to 2d postage due in 1905.

The international postcard below was unfranked and has a 3d postage due charge.  This is a bit of a mystery.  As an unfranked international postcard it should have been charged 2d postage due, being deficient of the 1d international postcard rate.  There are no obvious reasons why it should be charged at the letter rate (no glitter), and as an unfranked postcard it whould have been charged 5d at the letter rate.  The only way one can get a 3d charge that I can see is if it was correctly franked at the international postcard rate (1d) but was liable to pay the letter rate (2½d), giving rise to a 1½d deficiency and thus 3d postage due.

Here is an example of a postcard from the USA that was only franked at the domestic 1c rate and was thus liable to 1d postage due.

Mail from Australia to Bristol on the Lusitania, 1889

The envelope below went on the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Lusitania posted on 26th September 1889 and arriving in Bristol on 7th November 1889 (6 weeks).

This was an earlier Lusitania than the one sunk by a German U-boat in May 1915 - this Lusitania was launched in 1871 and wrecked off Nova Scotia on 26th June 1901, as per the newspaper cutting below.

Some Taunton Penny Post items

Taunton also had a Penny Post but not as large as Bristol's.  It was originally a Fifth Clause Post but converted to a Penny Post quite soon.  The item below has the boxed "No.2" receiving house handstamp used a Monksilver and dates from July 1817.

The boxed "No.3" receiving house handstamp was in use at Torre.  The Norwich Union Insurance form below was sent in August 1825.

The free front below has an unboxed "No.5" receiving house handstamp which is thought to be from Bicknoller.  The date looks like 1830 but unfortunately the address is indecipherable.

The entire below from April 1833 has unboxed handstamps from Trull ("No.8") and Blagdon Hill ("No.9").

The Penny Post handstamp continued to be used after the introduction of the uniform penny post.  The entire below is from Creech St Michael and has an unboxed "No.11" receiving house handstamp.

Bristol Penny Post - a few items

Bristol had a large Penny Post system, with receiving house handstamps going up to No.70.  Here are a few items from its Penny Post.  Hotwells originally had the "No.1" receiving house handstamp, while Clifton had the "No.2" handstamp - until April 1832 when they swapped, perhaps because Clifton was then much the higher class area.  The entire below is from August 1823 with the third "No.1" handstamp used at Hotwells.

The entire below from Clifton to Edinburgh in May 1827 has the fifth boxed "No.2" handstamp used at Clifton, and a framed "1/2d" Scottish wheel tax handstamp.

Kingsdown had the "No.5" receiving house and in November 1837 was using an unboxed handstamp.

Here is an example of the unboxed "No.70" receiving house handstamp that was in use at Cross Hands near Pilning in May 1837.

The unboxed "No.66" receiving house handstamp is known in use at Rudgeway between 1836 and 1839 - the front below is a very late example.

The entire below is from Downend to Cardiff in October 1846 and has a degraded "No.38" receiving house handstamp.  The walk to Downend went via Stapleton which might explain the "STAPLETON-ROAD" udc handstamp.

Below is the contents of the entire from Downend.