Australia CTO (Cancelled To Order) Varieties

Discussions of CTO's in other threads usually leads to the conclusion that they are not desirable and usually equivalent to a nice used stamp. However, Australia (and some other countries) issued CTO's that are now quite collectible. I've been scanning auction and selling sites lately and have found some nicer ones.

The Australian Kangaroos were issued for UPU distribution, but also in Specimen Sets. The Australian Commonwealth Specialist's Catalogue (ACSC) implies that these were available with a Melbourne postmark and also a Brisbane version. This is probably Melbourne, but since you only see a quarter of the cancel, we just have to guess. Scott 122, ACSC 29w.


Moving on to King George V, ACSC notes Melbourne CTO cancels along with Brisbane. I present two others. The first is 3 pence, Scott 72, ACSC 107w. I believe it is a CTO due to the quality of the cancel, however it is Sydney, so I'm now not sure.


Lastly, we have 4 pence, Scott 73, ACSC 116w. This one has a very clear cancel, Melbourne.


I'll post others later. Please join in if you have some to show.

Values up to 5/- were CTO, values above were overprinted SPECIMEN
One exception the 10/- 3rd Wmk punctured "OS"

Postage dues also came CTO

64idgaf,

Really nice group of stamps and write up!!

Pastime:

While ACSC describes cto as applying to definitive, it also suggests that per favour cancelling of commemoratives is also cto and could be done at any post office. This raises a couple of questions:

1. Were stamps cancelled at Melbourne and then distributed around the country for sale as cto?

2. Would a post office per favour cancel a definitive, and would that then be regarded as cto even though it was not postmarked Melbourne?

Frank.

Itma,

With Kangaroos and KGV, cto cancels are known at centres other than Melbourne.

Thanks for posting the nice Postage Dues and other comments. This one just arrived today. A right marginal copy of Scott 11, ACSC 35wb, CTO dated DE 3 1913. I guess the stamp to the left only got a small partial cancel. Here is the entire stamp:


It would be nice to plate this item. I see that the T and W of TWO are connected:


Also interesting is the presence of small fibers. I hadn't actually noticed this in other first watermark issues. It may be very common:

In the Kangaroo issues the blue one shilling CTO's were all inverted watermarks.

The Brusden White ACSC Kangaroos catalogue states that most used examples of inverted first watermark one shilling issue are CTO.

CTO also exists for the one shilling Die IIB third watermark and small multiple watermark, for which there is no mention of them necessarily being associated with inverted watermarks.

Thank you for the info fairdinkumstamps. Faint memories for me now. -:)

Also remember the short set of CTO's Kangaroo issues were still for sale in P.O. in 1965. Distant memories! It is only 56 years ago.

My Grand Uncle was a postmaster back then. Can remember him looking at speed, at the huge sheets of pre-decimal. Can remember him with his postmaster stamp sets.

At this time I was sorting a lot of KGV stamps on paper for a stamp dealer at Bankstown Sydney and had progressed to sorting penny reds. Strong memories of sorting KGV stamps in winter next to the heater. My unusual stamp pile was the 1st lot of stamps that stamp dealer looked at.

The latest is Scott 99, ACSC 39w. I've noticed CTO's for Australia are frequently sold as used, so relatively easy to find. This one was better centered than most.

Oh! How much did I want these CTO short sets at the P.O. when I was a child.
Totally mesmerised looking at these Kangaroo & KGV short sets.

Very strong memories. Never realised how much they meant to me till this thread.

Thank you! They truly are beautiful!