Ceylon : The Mo&sb Postmarks.

The purpose of MO&SBs

(Money Order and Savings Bank Cancels)

So what was the exact purpose of these MO&SB cancellers? According to Ray Stanton,
'The larger post offices had already begun to transact Savings Bank business
before 1893 and gradually more and more offices became similarly authorised, but it
appears that at many of these offices this datestamp was used from time to time as a mail
canceller ... there is a greater than average use on registered mail from covers seen, which
might indicate that such usage occurred because it was the nearest cancel to hand, maybe
on the office counter, when the transaction took place. However there are many covers
and cards for which no such explanation exists.'

As well as being used for Money Order business and Registration at the offices of
Pusselawa, Ratnapura and Kurunegala the MO&SB is known used as the postmaster's
chop . At Pusselawa it is also found as a receiving mark . It is noted as a transit mark at
Chilaw in 1896 . It was used for all mails at Magalla, in the south, near Galle, between
1930 and 1960 where no separate medium Single Circle (mSC) is recorded after 27
March 1929 and is thus quite common . At Neboda the MO&SB+(3) was used for
ordinary mail from 1943 . At Naula, Central District, the MO&SB+ is seen far more
frequently than the mSC(l) . The office at the northern town of Puttur only had an
MO&SB+ which was used from 1928 to 1966—with absolutely no sign of the usual
mSC! .

It appears that MO&SBs were at times used as a general back-office canceller, at some
offices more than others, and this was decided by an individual postmaster's fancy rather
than any diktat from the GPO. Many of the strikes are only known on individual stamps,
which make it impossible to decide the purpose of use. Only covers and documents, as
hard as they are to come by, give lie to the purpose of each canceller.
MO&SBs come in many shapes and sizes. There are 28 known small Single Circles (or
thimbles) (sSMO&SBs). Ray Stanton notes, 'Until the numeral obliterators fell away from
use, late 1892 to early 1893, it was rare to find any datestamp on a Ceylon postage stamp;
how long before 1890 the MOSBs were issued is anybody's guess.'

David Horry
Gibbons Stamp Monthly 2010

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1967 Ceylon "Thimble" MO&SB pmk,
side fleurons appear to be of the "cross" type

Namunukula Pmk (Nine Peaks)

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