Mauritius Pillar Box Cancel...which Pillar Box?

Here is a 1908 pillar box cancel from Mauritius:



I assume that the bottom arc is a town, and not a generic "Mauritius." My guess is Port Louis. Any better guesses?

I don't think anyone would argue with that.
Here's one with the UI showing
http://www.bcstamps.co.uk/item-5865...ostmark.html

Is there a greater value for the pillar box cancellation?

The cancel could have changed, I guess, and I suppose that there might be more than one for Port Louis, but I can't help but notice the extraneous " - " in mine, between the X and the S, so I'm not quite "solved" yet. Thanks for that link.

Rohumpy, I only have a list of Mauritius post offices, no rarity ratings. I'm sure I'll never get them all, but when I see one I don't have, I pick it up (if it is within reason).

The fact that it is a "pillar box" suggests
a busy centre. (boxes other than the PO centre)
Port Louis had a Port Louis centre, and a port louis Station,
you can also draw out the CDS and see if "port louis"
fits in the 360 degree format arc.
There are no other post offce centres ending with S
that fits the same as Port Louis AFAIK.

There would be more than 1 CDS hammer for the pillar box
clearance clerks, one would assume.
It may not be solved, but fairly clear in my opinion.

Noticed this site and thread this morning as it had a link to the pillar box postmark from my site. Then found a Port Louis Pillar Box cancel this evening!

It isn't a great cancel, but definitely must be Pillar Box / Port Louis and matches the "S" from the original post.

http://www.bcstamps.co.uk/item-1163...ostmark.html

Welcome bcstamps. You should go here and introduce yourself!

https://goscf.com/f/11

Recently I purchased some very nice Tuvalu watermark varieties with margins from you

Thanks for adding that, and welcome!

C.

Does anyone have any more details about these Pillar Box cancellations? I am intrigued since I don't recall ever seeing similarly-worded postmarks from any other countries, and I could find very few details online regarding how/why they were used.

I found some information at the following link: http://www.postmarks.co.za/PH%20Mau...%20Louis.htm
This mentions that there were at least six types of these postmarks, five reading "Pillar Box / Port Louis" and one "Pillar Box / General Post Office" - all of these were used at the Port Louis GPO. The website cites The Postal History of Mauritius by Proud and gives the recorded dates of use of each postmark, which range between 1881 and 1952.

However, it does not give any additional information such as why these postmarks were used in the first place. Wasn't the majority of mail posted in pillar boxes? If so why was it necessary to have a postmark reading "Pillar Box"?

Do any members have a copy of the Proud book which might give some additional details?

It would also be interesting if anyone knows something about these postmarks' value (either on loose stamps or covers/postcards).

"Pillar Box"
Seen on Australian Slogan Machine Postmarks, still searching for my examples.

Jamaica : CDS reads "street letter box"
Tasmania : CDS with P-R = Pillar Receiver
Queensland : Octagonal DS with P-B = Pillar Box. (A letter appears above the dash either H,O,T,X)

Guess: to indicate any delay in delivery. eg: depending on when the Pillar was cleared, may influence when mail was despatched to railheads for delivery elsewhere.
"Pillar Box" ID assists in this.

Australia Machine cancels: Posted in Pillar Box, Posted in Country Box.

Thanks Rod! I had never seen those Australia machine cancellations.