18 bar cancellation
17
bar cancellation
18 bar cancellation
17
bar cancellation
18
bar cancellation
8
bar cancellation Niewport Obliteration of the Early Stamp Issues
The first postage stamps of 10 and 20 cents were issued on 1st July 1849 and depicted Leopold 1st in uniform with epaulettes by which epithet they are known. COB lists many shades and varieties of this issue. The fraudulent reuse of stamps was of great concern to the postal authorities so this was precluded by the obliteration of the stamp with a circular cancellation made up of a number of vertical or horizontal bars. Typically the number of bars denotes the status of the post office concerned whilst a number in a box within the centre of the bars identifies the town. Posting details, typically the town and date of posting were usually applied to the envelope or entire in the form of a circular date stamp.
|
18 bar cancellation |
17
bar cancellation |
| No. 24 hence Bruxelles Bureau de Direction | No. 2 hence Alost Bureau de Perception |
|
18 bar cancellation |
17
bar cancellation |
| Vertical bars thus Bureau de Distribution. | E.II Bureau Ambulant (TPO)” Liege to Verviers |
| No. 24 indicates Herinnes (1849-51), | |
| or Mariembourg (1852-57) | |
| or Inglemunster (1859-64) | |
|
18
bar cancellation |
8
bar cancellation Niewport |
| M.V Bureau Ambulant (TPO)” Namur to Bruxelles |
An entire from Wavre to Bruxelles 18 January 1850 at the 10c rate for letters not exceeding 10 grammes for a distance up to 30 kilometres. The 17 bar cancellation with number 130 is the Bureaux de perception at Wavre and the “P” in circle hand stamp is from a local posting box in Grez-Doiceau.
Whilst expensive to collect on epaulettes some of these obliterations continued in use for subsequent less costly medallion issues until a lozenge of dots replaced the bars.
Bureau
de perception at Jemeppe
Introduction of CDS Cancellations.
Under pressure of increasing volume of the mail the postal administration decided to end to the application of both an obliteration of the stamp and a CDS. On 10th March 1873 the postal workers were authorized to use the CDS alone to obliterate the stamp and provide posting details
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The CDS generally employed at that time was a double-circle with the day, month and year in the inner circle and the town name and time between the circles. The hour was denoted by a number and letter M for Matin (morning) or S for Soir (evening or afternoon). In other types the hour replaces the year in the inner circle and the year replaces the hour between the circles. |
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From 1875 the double circle was progressively replaced by a single circle. The hour was sometimes denoted by two numbers 11-12M or 6-7S with the letter falling into disuse in favour of the 24 hour clock i.e. 11-12 or 18-19.
The cancellations of the period 1849 to 1910 is addressed in the Catalogue Spécialisé des Oblitérations Belges published by the NIPA in 1999. The situation is more complicated than suggested above however the BSC library contains a wealth of information on this subject. Updates of this web-page will also provide additional information. For the development of cancellations in a single town see the "Histoire de la Poste de Beaumont" published by Joël Brousmiche.
After 1910.
In 1909 it was envisaged that town identification would be bilingual i.e. both French and Flemish names would be used also the month, formerly in French, would be replaced by Roman numerals. Where an equivalent name was not available a series of 13 or 7 "dots" was often but not exclusively employed. Additional figures or symbols are used around the inside circumference provide information about the location and type of post office. The introduction of post-codes has progressively replaced the "dots". Mechanisation and the use of slogans has complicated matters further.
