Victoria State 5sh With Telegraph Cancel

I am thinking of bidding on this Victoria State 5sh stamp with a Telegraph Branch cancel. Can someone let me know if this is considered a revenue cancel or a postal cancel. Thanks .

That's a fine looking stamp Bee See.

I do not know myself. Maybe they were like the Belgium telegraph stamps that were used on an envelope to indicate a special delivery fee had been paid???

Then you would have postage stamps and telegraph stamps mixed together on an envelope with regular and telegraph cancels. Wish I had an example to show but not yet.

AFAIK, it would be regarded as a non-postal usage. And of course, strictly speaking, a Commonwealth usage, since it's dated 3 months after the Commonwealth of Australia was established.

Thanks for the information Tony. Does use after the formation of the Commonwealth decrease the value? It is sitting at 99c with 3 days to go.

In this case, I wouldn't think it would affect value much one way or the other. There are some State stamps that had a very limited life under the Commonwealth, and they are highly collectable.

(The Commonwealth came into force on 1 January 1901, and posts and telegraphs became a Commonwealth responsibility on the 1 March 1901, although the State issues continued until the 'Roos began to appear in 1913. Some States, like Victoria, had been using combined postage and revenue stamps before Federation, but had to stop this at Federation, and issue postage only stamps, and separate revenue stamps for their own purposes. There was the inevitable changeover period, leading to anomalies, and very short-lived issues. The Australian Commonwealth Specialists Catalogue has also begun to include these State stamps that were issued after Federation, which has also increased demand for them. Finally, I gather, it's worth looking out for first day (1 January 1901 and 1 March 1901) cancellations: they're worth a premium.)