Introduction
I set up this site some years back to enable me to share my fascination of Victorian Postmarks with anybody who was similarly interested.
Back in 2009, whilst having relatively limited information on these Postmarks, I felt that the time was right to ‘publish on the web’ in the hope that this site would encourage other aficionados to share their information to enable us to explore the marks in much greater depth. In the event, this proved to be the case and many of you have provided me with scanned examples which I have used to build up a sizeable database and which has enabled me to expand the knowledge base in respect of these Postmarks.
There was the choice on day 1 either to go into print in book form or to publish on the Internet. Whilst I admit having a predilection for books the advantages of the Internet for this particular project are overwhelming; it is cheap (at least for the reader!) and, most importantly, can be updated at the flick of a key (almost). In addition, I can post a significant gallery of examples in colour which would be prohibitively expensive in book form.
This site is free for all to use and so far I have not been tempted to clutter it with adverts although when the money runs out I may have to rethink that policy!
It was my original intention to provide details of many more Postmarks Types than I have done to date (see Menu above) but my excuse is that I have been sidetracked by other projects. My interest in postmarks was kindled by the series of booklets published by Richard Arundel. I was hoping to replicate/expand his information on this web site but the Great Britain Philatelic Soc (‘GBPS’) beat me to it and obtained the rights to these works. However, in view of my interest in these Postmarks I agreed to spearhead the revision of these booklets (under the auspices of the GBPS) and early in 2012 we published the first book –
I would plead to any reader who has examples of these postmarks to forward details to me (and scans if possible) as this is very much work in progress. In many ways I am disappointed not to be able to include these Postmarks on this web site but at least I am very much involved in the revisions (subsequent updates are posted on the GBPS web site).
Comments on Scarcity
As stated above, over the past years I have built up a significant database, particularly in respect of Scottish Experimentals and this, I believe, enables me to provide a reasonably accurate guide as to the Scarcity of each Type.
Therefore, I have provided a Scarcity Rating against each Type and, where relevant, each State; these are defined as follows (following the index adopted by John Parmenter):
Scarcity Rating
A: Abundant
B: Common
C: Average
D: Not Common
E: Scarce
F: Rare
G: Very Rare
H: Very Few Recorded
H*: Recorded on Stamp Only
GPO: Proof Book Entry Only
Please note that for scarcity purposes I am commenting on just the Postmark and am ignoring the actual stamp being cancelled. Also, unless otherwise mentioned, I am assuming that the cancel is in black.
Please note images are NOT to scale
I am hopeful that this web site will be used as the definitive database for the Postmark Types mentioned above and therefore I would urge all readers to email me details of copies in their possession in the following format:
Type
Date
Left Code
Right Code
Where the data is of a rare example, new Code or an Earliest/Latest Known Date (‘EKD’ and ‘LKD’) I may well ask for a scan for the records.
Please email me, Russell Taylor, at silver.leys@btinternet.com
Updates: 17th May 2013 –
21st November 2013 –
February 2014 – Revised site structure
20th January 2016 – update Scottish Experimentals
May 2021 – update Scottish Experimentals