Army Postmark

Figured I'd add these newly acquired soldiers covers to this thread, since they show two of the censor marks shown by Rod above.

Toronto postmark March 17 1915 predates The Special War Revenue Act (War Tax) by 10 days (came into effect March 27)
Military Field Postmark underneath has the date obliterated by the Toronto mark, but the code 2X indicates it was sent from the 1st Division 2nd Brigade.
Red square censor mark (CM2). The Toronto mark has a nice CNE (Canadian National Exhibition event cancel.
A lot going on here! Cobalt Ont. receiver cancel on back

Also on the back you can make out a 'negative' impression of some handwriting. That is a name and address from another letter, probably transferred from another envelope while they were stacked. It reads Geoffry W. Dixon Box 271 Cobalt Ont.



This second cover dated November 2 1916 at Army P.O. 3 has a six sided censor mark (CM4). The MR4 Die II war tax stamp was applied at the Ottawa Exchange Office on November 13
Also back canceled in Cobalt. This one also has some interesting marks ENGINEERS & MAPS COBALT ONTARIO.

It should be mentioned that like numbered FPO postmarks, numbered field censor marks of WW1 do indicate the specfic military units to which the censor stamps were allotted.

Though my field is field and base censor stamps used by Indian Army units in WW1, but I can tell that censor type CM2 2413 mark was allotted to 15 Canadian Battalion under 2 Infantry Brigade of 1 Canadian Division in Gravenstafel, België for use till April 1915 and type CM4 1236 stamp to 97 Company Army Service Corps under 165 Brigade for use till November 7,1916.

I agree, this appears to be a fantastic example of toning. This cover was in contact for years with another cover. The slightly raised address/ink/stamp of the other cover prevented air from getting to that part of the cover while the rest of the cover suffered the ravages of a poor environment. The protected areas did not tone as fast as the rest of the cover. I am sure that if James tested this cover it would show a low pH, it is on its way to becoming brittle and eventually crumbling to dust.

This stands as a perfect reminder of why postal historians and cover collectors should be dealing with paper conservation as a high priority. Thank you for showing it James.
Don

Wow, great information Joy, thanks. These will eventually end up in album pages, and that info will be included. Cheers!