Coaching Flyer/Receipt for the Bell & Crown Inn, Holborn

 Here is another Coaching Flyer/Receipt, this time from the Bell & Crown Inn, Holborn.

There are two coaches going into/through Somerset - The Hero and The Traveller.  The receipt includes charges of 1/4d Carriage plus 8d Porterage.

Note that there was an additional charge for the carriage of valuables, varying by value and by distance travelled.

Western Gazette Perfin, 1941

Perfins were used by companies to prevent pilferage of their postage stamps - it used to be possible to exchange postage stamps for cash at a Post Office.  Below is an example of the "W/G" perfin, used by the Western Gazette Co. Ltd, Yeovil on a windowed commercial cover in October 1941.

S. Rawlings & Son Ltd, Frome 1909

 Here is a nice advertising envelope for S. Rawlings & Son Ltd. from Frome used in January 1909.

Auctioneers Licence issued at Bath for Auctioneer in Shepton Mallet, 1911

Auctioneers required Licences from 1845 to 1949.  Below is an example of a Licence issued by Customs and Excise in Bath in 1911.

The Licence would have been sent in an envelope similar to the one below, which was most probably used for the licence for the previous year, 1910.

Flyer for the Bolt-in-Tun, Fleet Street used in 1840 as a receipt for Carriage and Porterage

The Flyer below has been used as a receipt for Carriage and Porterage, and is dated October 1840 on the reverse.  It is from the interesting period when services were moving from Coaches to the Railway.  The history of the Bolt-in-Tun inn is shown on the second sheet.

Field Post Office postcard to Weston-super-Mare, 1917

The postcard below is an example of the standard issue postcards that were sent back from the front in WWI.  It was sent from FPO 87 in March 1917.

HMS Somerset, 1996

 Having had a year off, I'm starting to post up a few items here again, though I won't be posting as regularly as before as I don't have that much new.

On a contrary note (the current situation makes me feel a bit contrary), I thought I'd start with an item that is not Somerset Postal History but is HMS Somerset instead.  The envelope below commemorates the commissioning of HMS Somerset in September 1996, with a couple of nice cachets as well as the "PLYMOUTH AND CORNWALL / DEVON" cancel.

Castle Cary Handstamp, 1835

The framed "Castle Cary / P.y Post" handstamp is known used from 1824 to 1827.  Below is an example of its later usage with the "P.y Post" removed in 1835.  No usage is known in the intervening years.

Taunton Show 1935

The Bath and West Agricultural Show was held in Taunton in 1935.  Below is shown a label advertising the Show and a postcard posted on 1st June 1935 (the last day of the Show) with the message "Off to Show" and a pencil comment "Very Wet".

Matlock or Martock ?

I acquired the item below off the Internet - it is a wrapper with a "MA**OCK / 126" boxed mileage mark addressed to Ludlow, with a filing date of 16th July 1803 and a postal charge of 7d.

Here is an expanded view of the handstamp.

One can see the "M" and probably the "A" then there is a gap with a vertical serif, followed by the "OCK".

There are two places that it could be from - Matlock in Derbyshire and Martock in Somerset.

The vertical serif fits with Matlock but the mileage, 126, fits with Martock (Matlock mileage to London was 146).  The postal charge of 7d fits with Matlock, and Martock to Ludlow could be the same rate if the postal route was very direct.

However, 126 was the mileage for Derby.  There is a strange anomaly, with the mileage marks for three towns north of Loughborough; Kegworth, Cavendish Bridge and Shardlow all of share the mileage 109 for Loughborough.  Derby mileage was 126 so is this a handstamp for Matlock with the Derby mileage ?

In either event, it is a previously unrecorded handstamp.