College Stamps (Keble Oxford)

I have a block of Keble College Oxford, some Queens College Cambridge and some St John's coll stamps, are they worth selling ? and are there specialist sites who are interested in these kind of stamps.
Chris

. If you can post a picture it would be helpful. I think you are talking about something similar to these

[W] Thanks for posting. The Kebler College has 3 basic designs & 3 color variations running from a low of .80 up to 25.00 fo a single stamp based on 1940's pricing.

Queens has one issue only valued at 1.90.

St. John's could be from Cambridge or Oxford one issue each, .80 Cambridge; .50 Oxford.

Can you scan & download a pic?

Hi Russ,

Yes thats the Keble college one, the St John's are bright red witha picture of a bird of prey, the queens college are green with a picture of a boars head, I will try and post a picture tommorow.

Chris

My understanding is that these were about 1880 and were local post. The U.S. had 2 school local posts. The paid a fee for the transport of letters from the school to the post office. These example may have had similar use? I know that many UK schools, particularly in Cambridge issued similar issues. I look forward to the pics.

Schools in Great Britain,

All Souls College (Oxford) 1884 1 issue
Exeter College (Oxford) 1882 1 issue
Hertford College (Oxford) 1875 1 issue
Lincoln College (Oxford) 1877 1 issue
Merton College (Oxford) 1876 1 issue, 1877 2 issues color variation, 1881 1 issue, 1883 1 issue
Selwyn College (Cambridge) 1882 1 issue
Queens College (Cambridge) 1883 1 issue
St. John's College (Cambridge) 1882/5 1 issue
St. John's College (Oxford) 1884/5 1 issue
Kebler College (Oxford) 1871 1 issue, 1872 1 issue, 1876 3 designs & issues, 1882 1 issue

The US has a Lot more if you include precancels issued for School PO's.

There are several from Canada also!

Several U.S. schools used precancels on regular stamps. I know of only 2 that issued their own stamps.
Friend's Boarding School, Barnesville, Ohio 3 types 1877-84
Westtown School, Westtown, PA 7 types 1853-1867.
In both cases a one cent stamp was issued to pay local postage to transport the letters to and from the closest U.S. post office.

The St. John's College per your description, is Cambridge, the design was taken from a old wood-cut in Coopers's "Annals of Cambridge".

To answer your 1st question are they worth selling? Yes, why not keep them.
Yes there are people how would be very interested in these stamps.

chrisp,

A Keble College block of 4 will sell for about £50, Mint and in the same colour as the one shown by Russ.
A single is about £15.

The St.John's College stamp, in the colour shown here, is about £10.

If you have any Hertford College stamps, these are often the most sought after and most pricey. Even their Postal Stationery goes for £30 a piece !

Londonbus1

P.S. Prices based on recent auctions/dealer sales [average taken]

Thankyou all for this information. There is also one from Selwyn college but this one has no perforations on

Chris

Hi All,

As promised I have attached images, apologies for the presentation but stamps found in an old box of junk

Very nice!

Nice stamps. I think that these stamps are more on the lines of a local rather than a cinderella and were fees paid to the school for letter transport to the local post office. Are there any UK locals experts that can confirm this?

My understanding is that these stamps were used to pay posted within that college and other colleges. Were not permitted on general service.

These college stamps and postal stationery are listed in Volume 1 of the old Robson Lowe Encyclopedia of British Empire Postage Stamps (1952).

He doesn't describe how they were used in general but says that even after they were finally suppressed by the Postmater General in 1885, Keble College "defiantly continued to use an envelope and a post card until 1886, and even produced an envelope embossed with the College arms on the flap, which were sold at 8d. a dozen, and franked letters - by means of the College porters - to any part of Oxford. This dodging the Postmaster General went on for many years, and may still be in use for aught the writer knows."

warrehouse and nigel, thanks for the info.