EAST LONDON PARCELS & JETTY (POST OFFICE)
I'm preparing for a South African Collectors' Society meeting in Letchworth at 10 am on Saturday 8th April. It's in the Mrs Elizabeth Howard Memorial Hall, Norton Way S, Letchworth Garden City SG6 1NX. All are welcome. By all means come along. Contrary to what some say about the parking being cheap, I think it is extortionate at £5.05 for the day. I would rather spend it trying to haggle down an £8 cover. The venue is a 10 minute walk from the station. Don't get me started on the cost of train tickets!
The image below is a sheet I put togther to display. Although he does not know it yet, I plan to swap the topmost postcard or both for something that I want from another collector. I won't name names but this will be meat and drink to him. I doubt he will be able to resist my offer. I know he likes it as he has the other postcard that shows that the Charge Clerk did on more than one occassion use the EAST LONDON PARCELS datestamp to confirm payment of the tax. As the old adage goes, "if there is one, there will be more". So, keep looking.
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Steve -
A lovely card, and, as you point out, adds to increasing evidence that parcels office date-stamps and cancellers were sometimes used for other purposes as well. I have, for instance, a number of examples of stamps with large "CANCELLED" pin perforations and parcel office cancellations. Sadly none are on piece; all are dated in late 1913 and early 1914; my guess is that they leaked from an internal audit office, and were probably used for payment of customs dues on incoming parcels. (I'd welcome any evidence or thoughts relating to this suggestion.) Here are examples from the Cape (King Williams Town), Natal (Durban) and Transvaal (Johannesburg).
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Thanks Gents, really interesting and lovely items. Just to add my `2 cents. I attach another East London/P.O card. This is a single circle. For Steve's postcard, the answer might be in the addressee name Mrs W. Horsham. For mail addressed to someone in the Post Office itself, say the PBS or MOO section, the card would have been delivered to the office and then stamped there, i.e. my guess it went to the parcels section not the charge clerk. The T with the L at the bottom is a very common UK Tax mark, L probably for London. So my guess again, the card was sorted in East London's main post office (HO), then sent to the Boat House Post Office for delivery to Mrs Hersham, she might have been the Post Mistress or someone working there , but I dont know for sure. I have similar items with MOO and PBS for money order office and post box section. Same puzzle for Queenstown on the other scan I am attaching. This time though it is clear Mr Harrison was working for the Railways, hence the the fading handstamp Quuenstown Railways on the top left.
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Yannis, thanks. Your explanation regarding my EAST LONDON PARCELS postcard appears to make perfect sense.
However, I was wrong about my colleague having a cover that shows use of this datestamp confirming payment of tax. While he has an example on cover, the example he was referring to was the one in Putzel (Vol. 3, E - Ha, page 18). See scan of the page below. It shows a "1906 Australian post card with 'East London Parcels' arrival date stamp introduced in 1882 ex. Athol Murray". This was taxed 1d using the same 1d hand stamp as on my cover. The Australian tax due notice, a 'T' and a '1 d' are both in manuscript. Unlike mine, this appears to be going to a residential address. So, we have the use of the EAST LONDON PARCELS datestamp twice in 1906 in conjunction with the payment of tax. This would seem to suggest use by a Charge Clerk. My assumption is weak at best, We need more samples!
I do like your Single Circle East London P.O. datestamp and your PARCELS OFFICE QUEENSTOWN GOVERNMEMT RAILWAYS cachet. I cannot see the cachet in either Putzel or the Addendum. You may want to send it to Alex Visser.
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Here's a CAPE TOWN parcel cancellation used to cancel a block of postage due stamps.
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That's decidedly leftfield but not off piste, Bas. How we go around in circles! (That's not a reference to our love of postmarks!) The attached was sent to me by Ian Paterson of Stellenbosch / Hermanus in response to the post on Transvaal Triple Circle 'T' stamps. It seems appropriate to post it here. Ian and I share an interest in 'T' cancellers, specifically bona fide Telegraphic ones, which is how the Triple Circle 'T' stamp post started. This is a proper CAPE TOWN T (Tax) handstamp of which Putzel lists four. This is his No. 462, the first one. All have the Year top. It has a UK Tax stamp with an 'L' below. I presume that stands for 'London'. If correct, I learned that from Yannis today.
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Quote from Steve on March 30, 2023, 2:29 pmYannis, thanks. Your explanation regarding my EAST LONDON PARCELS postcard appears to make perfect sense.
However, I was wrong about my colleague having a cover that shows use of this datestamp confirming payment of tax. While he has an example on cover, the example he was referring to was the one in Putzel (Vol. 3, E - Ha, page 18). See scan of the page below. It shows a "1906 Australian post card with 'East London Parcels' arrival date stamp introduced in 1882 ex. Athol Murray". This was taxed 1d using the same 1d hand stamp as on my cover. The Australian tax due notice, a 'T' and a '1 d' are both in manuscript. Unlike mine, this appears to be going to a residential address. So, we have the use of the EAST LONDON PARCELS datestamp twice in 1906 in conjunction with the payment of tax. This would seem to suggest use by a Charge Clerk. My assumption is weak at best, We need more samples!
I do like your Single Circle East London P.O. datestamp and your PARCELS OFFICE QUEENSTOWN GOVERNMEMT RAILWAYS cachet. I cannot see the cachet in either Putzel or the Addendum. You may want to send it to Alex Visser.
I did another check in what I have and here is another East London Jetty postcard also addressed to Mrs Horsham. This was posted in East London, possibly over the counter since the East London postmark is numbered and with a receiver stamp at the Jetty.
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Wow! That is superb. If you are going to collect postmarks, this EAST LONDON JETTY represents the ideal. I've just had a qick look at Putzel (Vol. 3). Apparently, East London Jetty closed in 1914. Putzel's example was sent from EAST LONDON JETTY to EAST LONDON 4 ie. the reverse of what you show above. His example of the EAST LONDON JETTY postmark is not nearly as clear as yours. There is a good case to be made for updating postmark catalogues with better examples. Yours is an ideal candidate to replace Putzel's example.