Some Commercial Ephemera

Here is some commercial ephemera associated with Bristol starting with a receipt from Edwardes, Ringer & Co in 1868 - they were Tobacco and Snuff Manufacturers at 90 Redcliff Street.

Below is a Dividend Warrant for the Bristol Dock Company dated April 1872 ...

... and here is a receipt from Lewin's Mead Sugar Company dated 1864.

 The postcard below sent in 1900 has a pink receipt from the Bristol Steam Navigation Company pasted on to it, with a violet "ENTERED IN CASH BOOK" cachet applied.

This last item is not Bristol related, coming from Alnwick, but is an invoice and receipt from 1854 from William Maile, Coach Builder and Harness Maker ... "patronised by His Grace the Duke of Northumberland and the Right Honourable Earl Grey".

Clevedon Telegraph Form, 1894 and Postcard 1904

The unused Telegraph form below has a Queen Victoria 6d embossed stamp and a "THE TRIANGLE / CLEVEDON" handstamp dated 2nd August 1894.

The QV 6d embossed stamp is similar to the 1854 6d embossed postage stamp but has small circular marks towards the base.  The back of the form details what the 6d charge includes.

The Postcard below was sent from Clevedon to Clifton in 1904 - the postcard was written at 2:30 with the sender indicating that they would be home about 10pm and presumably expected that the postcard would be delivered before then.  With that kind of delivery why would one send a Telegram ?

More Bristol Postage Due or other Cachets

The airmail envelope below from Bristol to USA in 1977 had charge marks applied in Reading as it was franked with the internal letter rate rather than the airmail rate.

The airmail letter below from Bristol to USA in 1984 was caught in Bristol and transferred to surface mail as it was insufficiently franked.

In 1986 the underfranked envelope below from Bristol to USA was caught at Reading.

The envelope below from Bristol to Weston-super-Mare has a revenue protection cachet - presumably the meter account would have been charged directly for the postage due.

 

Below are two more insufficiently franked envelopes to the USA in 2001 which were caught and diverted to surface mail.

Some Bristol Postage Due covers

Here are a few postage due items associated with Bristol starting with two postcards from 1922 and 1925 going to the USA with insufficient stamps - resulting in hexagonal "T" tax stamps as they passed through Bristol.  The top has a "T / 10 / BS" and the bottom a "T / 10 / 134" handstamp.

The envelope below from Australia was marked as Airmail but has a framed "INSUFFICIENTLY / PREPAID" cachet and a "5D / 134" postage due mark applied in Bristol.

The Postcard Rate went up in October 1957 catching out the sender of the postcard below sent in 1959.

Both envelopes below were sent unfranked.  In 1964 the top one was charged 5d based on the Printed Matter rate, while the bottom one was charged 6d based on the Letter Rate.

The envelope below, sent in 1964, has an incomplete meter mark so was charged 5d postage due.

Both envelopes below were charged 8d postage due in 1965 and 1966 being double the 4d Letter Rate.

"Dear Doctor" from Lundy

The postcard below from Lundy in 1962 is addressed to a doctor in Michigan advertising Pentothal Sodium.

Some random Bristol ....

Here are a few items associated with Bristol starting with a letter from Hotwells to Lincoln's Inn with a "7 / P P / P" messenger handstamp.  The handstamp indicated that the local post had been paid, the handstamp being applied by the messenger who had collected the letter whilst on his rounds.

 

The item below is a completed insurance form going from Glastonbury to Norwich which was missent to Bristol in 1822.  The reverse has two postage charges, a stylised "10" for the charge to London which was crossed out in London and replaced with a "1/-" for the total charge to Norwich.

 

The single arc "BRISTOL" on the entire below was in use from 1827 to 1839.

The letter below was prepaid by the sender and has a "PAID / AT / BRISTOL" mark to indicate this.

Parliamentary Notices were treated like Registered Mail but were kept separate.  They had to have "Parliamentary Notice" on the front but the word "Registered" was prohibited.

Book Post was introduced in 1848, becoming Printed Matter from 1916.

A bit of Crewkerne

Here are a few early marks from Crewkerne starting with a two-line "CREWK / HERNE" from 1789.  Postage was dependant on the distance the letter was being sent, 2d for one post stage and 3d was the charge for two stages.  A post stage was generally 15-20 miles.

The next two sheets show letters dated 1798, 1799 and 1801 with "CREWKHERNE" straight line handstamps.  From 1797 the lower charges were based on miles rather than post stages, 3d for up to 15 miles and 4d for 15-30 miles.

Portishead Parish Magazine, May 1875

The following have been scanned from a copy of the Portishead Parish Magazine of May 1875, concentrating on some social history aspects (as opposed to the religious contents).

The inside covers and back cover bear a number of advertisements.

It is good to see that Mr Helyar, surgeon dentist of College Green, Bristol employed anaesthetics for the painless extraction of teeth.

For those of an enquiring disposition, a "Millpuff" mattress (bottom of the middle page above) is a mattress stuffed with 'millpuff'', which is a coarse type of wool 'flock' (reference found on the Old Manuscripts blog along with a very interesting explanation).

Apart from the advertisements, the other thing that caught my eye was the updates to the Parish Register (Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials).  Six of the deaths were children out of fifteen deaths in total.

 

Park Street, Bristol philatelic cover ?

The envelope below was sent registered from Park Street, Bristol ro Weston-super-Mare in June 1911.

It was paid for with three different cut-outs from postal stationery, presumably philatelic.