OCEAN POST OFFICES / CHARITY LABELS
A new club member, David Sigee, has asked me to post the fascinating cover below. What a beauty!
One of David's collecting interests is 'Prince of Wales Charity Labels'. He has just acquired the cover shown below. His main reason for buying it, he says, "was that it is the only example that I have seen with both labels pre-paying postage". David is hoping that a Club Member will be able to tell him more about:
- The CAPE COLONY/OCEAN POST OFFICE postmark
- The Merchant shipping, particularly R.M.S. 'Norman' at Southampton
- Whether the name 'Vallance' has any SA significance
- Any general comments that you have
I am no expert on Maritime Mail but here goes....
The Ocean Post Office (OPO) datestamp was used on ships to and from SA and GB. Six OPO datestamps are shown in Putzel's 'The Postmarks of South Africa....'. Alex Visser lists no additional OPOs in his on-line Addendum.
The datestamp above was used on 'JU 22 97'. It is Putzel No. 1, first used 18/10/93 on the first sailing of 7/10/1893.
Each OPO datestamp has a code letter that identifies the ship. 'A' is for Scot (Union Line), 'B' is for Dunottar Castle (Castle Line), etc. etc. The code letter in the datestamp above is 'L' which identifies the ship as either the Spartan or the Norman, both Union Line mailships that sailed between Southampton and Cape Town. See RMS Norman, below.
The postage rates which applied at the time were 2½d per half ounce for letters and 1½d for postcards. The above should have been posted at the 2½d rate but instead appears to have passed through the postal system without additional postage. I do not believe that these stamps were accepted in lieu of postage. Coming out of an OPO mailbag they possibly confused the post office into accepting them - assuming that this cover was ever posted!
The absence of bona fide postage stamps raises several questions, like "was it ever posted in the first place?" Was this not favour cancelled aboard ship? This would have been easier to achieve during the long confinement of a ship's voyage than at a normal post office. Once favour cancelled the cover was delivered by hand to the addressee whose interest in it was probably as a collector of postmarks and or charity labels. If it was not favour cancelled, "how did it pass through the generally very efficient GB postal system and not be taxed en route?" The high value of these impressive charity labels indicates considerable generosity towards a royal charity but was this act of upper class charity enough for the GPO to waive the rules on postage due? I don't think so. I am grabbing at straws here.
Meadvale was possibly a large country house that gave its name to the area, a modern residential suburb today.
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This is an extraordinary cover that Argyll-Etkin just offered - superficially extremely attractive I had a good look at it - A-E's description was a bit misleading - it has no transit marks so clearly never traveled through the post - the Norman was a Union Line mail steamer that remained the same with the fusion of the Union & Castle lines in 1900. All the mail steamers had Ocean Post Offices from October 1893. Cape (then Union) or GB stamps were allowable. The rate was 1d to UK, ½d back to SA, 1d for letters and 2½d "abroad". Returning to the cover concerned the post mark is genuine and belonged to the Norman. The ship was in Cape Town between trips at the time so I was going to dismiss the cover as entirely philatelic - with some regret as it is very striking - in the event I ended up being an underbidder as it did show that the ship opened to the public in, or near, Cape Town for advertising reasons and clearly showed off their Ocean Post Office as well - I assume the owner presented the envelope and received fine cto postmarks with date corrected to the right day. So it is entirely philatelic but congratulations to David as it's very striking and would enhance any collection and does demonstrate what the ships did when "laid up" between trips and I haven't seen anything similar before. I was mainly interested in the lot before it which I did buy, at a price! (I hope David wasn't the one who pushed me up!). This was a Diamond Line cover which is of considerable interest but for another day. The reason it cost more than it might have is that it was written by Thomas Baines (the famous artist) so his miniature sheet of 1975 (centenary of his death) can prettify what, otherwise, looks a bit dull with a cut into 4d triangular rather than dramatic Prince of Wales fund stamps! (I'll forward a scan of the "Norman" when I've got time). Tony H-G
Many thanks to Steve and Tony H-G for their rapid and very informative responses to my queries, providing further information of great interest on the cover.
The date of the pmk - JU 22 97 - was the day of Queen Victoria's diamond Jubilee celebration and this cover joins others that I have commemorating the event. This is the only one that I have with a foreign pmk.
I am happy to assure Tony that I did not bid on the previous lot in the Argyll-Etkin sale!
With best wishes to the SAPC and thanks again!
David
I found this amongst my 'stuff'. It was previously stuck in an old stamp album with selvage, see bottom right. It is a seating ticket for viewing QV's Diamond Jubilee Procession on 22nd June 1897. I have had it for over 20 years. This is the first time I have shown it to anyone. I am happy to part with it for whatever anyone thinks is a reasonable offer.
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Here are some more Ocean Post Office items. The following website is very helpful with the various postmarks.
http://www.tpo-seapost.org.uk/tpo2/spsafrica.html
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