Royal Weddings, Hype And Omnibus Sets

I am sure that the philatelic world will be overwhelmed with Stamp Issues this spring and despite my casual interest in Omnibus Issues, I will most likely pass on acquiring any.

I did run across one very simple cover though with that very distinctive postmark that was widely used in England for the Wedding of Elizabeth and Philip. Does anyone in the UK know whether anything like this is in the works this time around? I think that would be more collectible, interesting at least, than the many, many stamp sets that are going to surface.

Sorry to digress,
my interest immediately latched onto
the nice triangular sth west london
printed matter cancel! excellent.

Are the triangle and ribbon connected? Or are they separate cancels? I have at least one KGVI stamp with the bells socked on the nose, and I never knew the extent of the full cancel. Nice to see.

Great question!
I really don't know.
Looks like it could be so.
I had assumed two marks, but the bow bells
is a machine cancel and they look linked.

Postal clerks reserved the right to inspect
any covers that appeared typewritten.
If a triangular impression appears on a cover
(with the triangle inverted)
then that was the mark showing the clerk had done his job.
(ie hand hammer strike)

I almost think that the triangular stamp was attached to the Bow and Bells. If you look at this one with a date stamp, it bears exactly the same relationship to the decoration.

Can you both speak "english"... please? you're conversing in SCF shorthand, which is great if everyone knows what you are talking about. I'm just trying to learn the lingo. How the "heck" does one tell the difference?

I guess I am used to speaking shorthand too as I understand what they are talking about myself surprisingly.



Not sure where to start so here goes anyway. . . .
In my pic the round part of the cancellation (cancel) is called the Circular Date Stamp (CDS) and the Bells and Bow with Queen Elizabeth II's E and Prince Phillip's P, is the slogan part. This part is usually taken up by wording to either advertise something or promote an idea the Post Office thinks worthy of promoting. The whole cancel, both parts together counting as one together , are usually made by a cancelling machine in one pass through and are known as a machine cancel. (Flag cancels are also another type.)

Speculation is on whether the triangular mark, which is known to be stamped upon mail with Printed Matter inside, and is stamped upside down if the postal clerk has had to open the envelope and examine the enclosed papers (I am assuming) - a type of censorship, is in fact part of the machine cancel or whether the bow slogan cancel part is, in this one instance, a separate cancelling and the triangular mark is a separte cancelling by itself..

Oh, the oval red embossed stamp in the picture is a cameo of King George 6 or King George VI or KGVI or George VI as the British like to say it.

And the Decoration is the Slogan part, it being an added decoration to the circular date stamp, the important part , to a stamp collector.

As usual, brilliant descriptive work from the great Puzz.
Just one thing,
with the inverted triangle, I don't think
a clerk would have the necessary power to open mail
that would have to be a special appointment.
What I do think it means, is that Sly Peter
trying to send his Mum a letter at the discounted
rate.
I think the clerk inspects the packet and makes an
estimation if it complies with printed matter rate.

That's just a guess mind you.

Well, that is more than I knew Rod.

This printed matter rate, that was a reduced rate because the address was typed instead of hand-written? I am missing something here.

Why was the reduced rate given or withheld?

Thanks Puzzler! I do like the bell and bow! and if anyone finds an extra... let me know.

The printed rate card is exactly that, a notice sent to a customer with a few details filled in by hand. It is a delight in itself with business etiquette and language from a time well before 1947.