Running out of material

Sadly I'm afraid I will not be posting as regularly in the future.  This blog started in January 2012 so has been running for a while now.  There are over 1400 posts, two a week, mostly on philatelic matters - though I have been diverted recently by matters associated with stagecoaches and turnpike roads.  I'm not sure if these officially count as 'philatelic' even though stagecoaches carried parcels as well as people before the Post Office parcel service started in August 1883, and turnpike roads were the enabler to John Palmer's post office mail coach innovations in 1784.

Future posts will be more sporadic, occurring as I find material.  There may be bursts of activity as I (re-)discover material in my attic that I have not yet posted about !

 

 

Waterrow climax rubber cancel, 1933.

The postcard below has an example of the "WATERROW / TAUNTON / SOMERSET" climax rubber cancel dated September 1933.  The cancel was previously recorded used in 1931 so this is currently the latest known example.

 

Wambrook climax rubber cancels, 1911 & 1922

Wambrook had three different climax rubber cancels; below are examples of the first (from 1911) and the third (from 1922).  A second cancel is known used in 1915, similar to the first but with smaller lettering for "CHARD".

 

Previously unrecorded "PITMINSTER / TAUNTON" Climax Rubber cancel, 1910

The "PITMINSTER / TAUNTON" climax rubber cancel was issued in February 1902.  It was previously unrecorded in use - and I'm not sure if the postcard below  from September 1910 counts as postal use as there is no postage stamp or address.

 

New Burtle climax rubber cancel, 1911

The next few posts will cover some Climax Rubber cancels from Somerset that I've recently acquired. 

The postcard below has a previously unrecorded "BURTLE / BRIDGWATER" climax rubber cancel dated 11th October 1911.  Another "BURTLE / BRIDGWATER" cancel is known used in 1915 but the "B U R T L E" is widely spaced.

 

Parcel Post Label for Bourton (Dorset) under Bath

Bourton in Dorset was under Bath until 1908.   The Parcel Post Label below is from 1902, paying 3d for a parcel up to 1 lb plus 2d for registration up to £5.

 

New York ship letter to London, reposted from Frome to London, 1842

The Ship Letter below was sent from New York to London in 1842, with a London "SHIP -LETTER" mark.  It was then reposted from Frome to London about a week later.

The author was not a very good sailor:

"the day was beautifully fine, but at night a storm commenced, and again I was very sick, the vessel rolled terribly and I was obliged to lie in my berth or outside hold myself in the noise of the wind and the halloing of the sailors made it appear more terrific than it really was for I believe there was a very great danger but I determined  I would not lie in my berth again as I did at Plymouth"

Bristol Packet Cancels part 7 (the last !)

And finally, coming to the last sets of variants of the Bristol Packet Cancels, "BRISTOL / BATH AND TAUNTON" with codes at the bottom preceded with a "W".

The next one is "BATH AND  TAUNTON / BRISTOL" with the code at the bottom, followed by some for the "BRISTOL MAIL CENTRE" without a code.

 

There are also packet cancels for "FOREIGN SECTION / BRISTOL BATH TAUNTON" and "KEYNSHAM DELIVERY / OFFICE / PRIORITY SERVICES". 

 And I think we'll all be glad that that's the lot !  Why were there so many ??

½d Postage Due for Return to Sender, 1924

The front below was sent from West Bromwich to 'Stone & Tinson, Crews Hole, Bristol' on 3rd September 1924 but Stone & Tinson had moved (or ceased trading), so the mail was marked as undelivered, return to sender, receiving a red ½d postage due cachet for the return postage back to the sender.

 

Bristol Packet Cancels part 6

Getting close to the end (!), we now move to "Bristol / Bath Taunton", code at the top, with upper and lower case letters.

 

Next we go back to uppercase lettering with "BRISTOL / BATH AND TAUNTON" with codes at the top.

 

And finally "BRISTOL / BATH AND TAUNTON" with the code at the bottom.

 

 

Sixpenny Handley in the Woodyates Penny Post in Dorset

Further to my earlier post on Woodyates Penny Post (in Dorset), here is another example of the unboxed "No.2" receiving house handstamp in use at Sixpenny Handley.  This example dates from February 1840.

An interesting aspect is the spelling of the letter to a solicitor in Blandford:

Stamp Duty, 1820

Today 'Stamp Duty' is something one pays on a house purchase but originally it was a general tax on legal documents introduced in 1671.  Embossed stamps were applied to legal documents like the receipt below from 1820.

 

Bristol Packet Cancels part 5

Back to the Packet Cancels, here are some "BRISTOL / BATH/TAUNTON" cancels with a slash rather then an ampersand.

Then we get more "BRISTOL / BATH & TAUNTON" with code at the bottom but with the date line raised.

 

 

 

Crewkerne "230" Barred Numeral Duplex Cancels

Up to now I have generally held my postal history collection sorted by the town in the postmark, but recently I have started putting my material into order based on the type of postmark, for example Barred Numerals.  In doing this I have been identifying where I have gaps, some of which are fairly common postmarks.

One such gap was the "CREWKERNE / 230" 3-bar vertical oval duplex (3VOD) cancel with the time in code (as opposed to time in clear) as in the example below from 1896 which I have just acquired.

The cancel above was preceded by a 4-bar vertical oval duplex (4VOD) and followed by a 3-bar vertical oval duplex (3VOD) with the time in clear, as shown by the examples from 1873 and 1905 on the sheet below.

Squared Circle cancels from Martock (1895) and Williton (1884)

The Squared Circle cancel below from Martock in March 1895 was in use from July 1881 to February 1914 ....

.... while the Williton squared circle cancel was in use from July 1881 to May 1901.

 

Parcel Post Labels from East Twerton, Bath (1896) and North Town, Taunton (1895)

A couple of early-ish Parcel Post Labels (parcel service started August 1883), beginning with one for East Twerton under Bath in September 1896.  The franking of 4½d was the rate for a 1-2lb parcel.

This second one is for North Town, Taunton in July 1895.  The 6d franking was the rate for a 2-3lb parcel.

 

Cranborne, Dorset in 1911

The postcard below shows Water Street, Cranborne, being sent in August 1911 to Salisbury.  Before around 1840 Cranborne was a Post Town before losing out to Woodyates Inn a few miles to the west when a turnpike road was not built from Cranborne to Salisbury.  Water Street depicted below is where the turnpike would have had to go to go direct to Salisbury.

 

Bristol Packet Cancels part 4

More Packets, here are some cancels in the form of "BRISTOL / BATH & TAUNTON" with code at the top, "BRISTOL / BATH, TAUNTON" with a comma rather than an ampersand, and "BRISTOL / BATH & TAUNTON" with the code at the bottom.

 

Late Format "ANGERSLEIGH" UDC, May 1858

Serendipity is good luck in making unexpected and fortunate discoveries.  Acquiring this cover was definitely serendipitous:  I was after an example of the Wellington (Somerset not Shropshire) 3HOS cancel, which the cover below has, when, having received it in the post, I spotted that it had an "ANGERSLEIGH" late format undated circular handstamp (UDC) on the reverse.

This UDC was issued under Wellington on 15th April 1858, and below is the first recorded usage from 4th May 1858.

 

Bristol Packet Cancels part 3

Back to the Packet Cancels, this next set are "BRISTOL / BATH TAUNTON" with code numbers (1-80) at the bottom.  This post illustrates a large number of examples with different code numbers in this range.