George V Australia 1923 Penny Halfpenny Green Os

Hi to all

I thought I would post this as it is my only "prison cover"
I have been told not many survived as person did not like the stigma of receiving mail from prisons although most of it was harmless official mail.
The paper is fairly coarse looking and I wondered if this could by the printing from March 1923, also how can I detect the watermark on this as there is a very valuable one with the watermark inverted.
Regards,
Horamkhet.

According to Gibbons, the 1½d green OS perfin doesn't exist on the unsurfaced paper or with the inverted watermark. You might need to confirm that in the ACSC, though.

As this cover has a plain 'Melbourne' postmark, I'd guess it was sent from the State government offices in Melbourne, rather than from one of the prisons. If it was from the old Pentridge jail, I'd have expected a Coburg CDS. There was a jail in Castlemaine, though, and it's well worth a visit if you're ever in the area. These days, it's been converted into a convention centre ...

As an aside, I wonder if there was any Australian country town of any size, without a 'Commercial Hotel'.

ACSC doesn't specifically state that perf OS is available with inv wmk but does state that only three copies are known, one with a Sydney CDS postmark. You would have to assume that Sydney wss the source of the inverteds on that basis.

If you hold the cover flat, you can normally identify the impression of the wmk in the paper.

Hi tonymacq and 64idgaf

I have been to the Castlemaine Prison before it was convention centre for a tour. There was only myself and my wife on that day.
The places is very badly haunted, and you can feel a presence following you all the time and that was in broad daylight. I would not want to visit the place at night at the feeling in the day was horrific enough

My info about the inverted watermark came from the 6th edition Stanley Gibbons Australia Catalogue.
Thank you for all the helpful info.
Regards,
Horamakhet