Canada Postmarks / Cancels With Letter Obliteratorions

Two from Montreal, 'D' and 'E'

Thanks,
never seen these, I have Montreal "J" and "S"

Rod, do you know if there is a proper term for these cancels?

They remain a bit of an enigma Puzz,

Some gentleman posted a reply just a few days ago
regarding the postal history of canada website.

They referred to them as a
"wavy line cancel broken by a letter"

That's all we know.

I wonder if they identify the actual Post Office in Montreal. I do know that they were once identified by letters in the big cities, known as "Station B" for example.

Here is some more info on cancellations on the BNAPS site:

http://www.rpsc.org/Library/admiral...cels.htm#P10

Scroll to Duplex. The use of numbers and letters is explained but it does not say what they mean.

However if you check this website, http://www.execulink.com/~donslau/D...xcancel.html, search for "station duplex s" and you will see a cover listed with an "S" duplex for Kitchener, Ont.

Yours is a "footprint" duplex with "S" BeeSee
Can we assume the "wavy S" points to Kitchener as well





"S" ?

Station B still exists. It is the Post Office near Via Central Station in Montreal.

Perhaps Montreal is A to J, and K upwards could be Ontario.

My machine cancel database list Montreal with sta. A, B, C, F and H. I would assume that Sta. D, E, G and subsequent (I,J, etc) were smaller branches without canceling machines (hand cancels only). Duplex cancels were also very common on parcels that were not machine cancelable.

Some of the letters, and numbers, that one can see on any given duplex from a major Canadian city is not necessarily a different postal station, although it can be.

In the majority of cases, these letters and numbers are machine numbers. In other words, a large postal facility in one building will have several machines cancelling the mail and each one was identified by a specific number. This was done mostly for speed and getting the mail through.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Canada Scott#170 montreal wavy line letter-d duplex cancel