2p unpaid datestamps

Twopenny Post- Unpaid datestamps

Letters collected from the Receiving Houses, were taken to one of the two Principal offices of the TWOPENNY POST, either the Chief Office, in Lombard Street — (until 1829 when it was moved to St. Martins-le-grand), or the Westminster office in Gerrard Street, Soho. The date stamps applied by these two offices were always different. The main difference observed was that the Chief Office always had the month before the day, and Westminster always had them reversed.

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The frame of the date stamps differed, and from 1801 to 1824 the Chief Office had an oval date stamps, while the Westminster was indented. This letter of 23 July 1817 has both, as it was sent from Birmingham to London, so the Chief Office received it from the General Post, then transferred it to the Wesminster Office for final delivery.
The two circular stamps are General Post date stamps.

1824-1834 datestamps Chief Office
1824-1834 datestamps Westminster Office

From 1824 to 1834 the date stamps for the two Principal Offices were both oval, but the Chief Office had a double rim, and dots between the time and year, and Westminster Office had a single rim, and crosses between the time and the year.

Copyright 2002 E. J. Shanahan

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