Is This A French Cancellation?

This Straits Settlement stamp received what I think is a Directional Marking in red. I can make out the letters "... ARA ..." and then a diamond of dots with a number 2 in the middle in black. My gut tells me it is a French cancellation. If so, it might help in identifying the Directional Marking. Any ideas?

Thanks

There is an awful lot going on there.

I see a light strike of a barred obliterator under what looks similar to a Netherlands Indies cancel. Looks a bit like a "2" which was assigned to Samarang.

As for the red mark, I would have initially thought of a security mark, being the stamp is Straits Settlements, but the coincidence that Samarang would fit exactly is too great to ignore.

I don't have any image that will back any of this up, but it might give you something more to go on.

I suppose to be thorough, I should check Hoskins' Paquebot Cancellations of the World later this evening to rule that out.

In the meantime, perhaps someone who actually knows what he or she is talking about will drop by.

Thanks,

I think that the red mark - which certainly could be SAMARANG - is a so called Directional Marking. Similar marks were applied to letters addressed in a language that might not be familiar to the postal clerks to help them direct the mail. It was a common practice in the British postal systems in the Far East. See http://www.hongkongstudycircle.com/papers.html and the last item Direction Markings: Re-Direction Markings Reconsidered by Charles A. Jones.

While I can't confirm it, it fits.

If you haven't sent it off to the address in the link, above, I would. It appears that they have a bunch of singletons, and yours is not one of them.

For what it is worth, and not surprisingly, there was nothing in Hoskins.

I will be adding it to my website in the Directional Markings area: http://www.michelhoude.com/BMSM/Index.html

Thanks for checking Hoskins. I would appreciate knowing where I can consult on the 2 in diamond of dots = Samarang marking?

Thanks & Cheers

I didn't always keep track of where I got my lists...I used to just cut-and-paste information into text files. I do better now, either referencing the source or saving a pdf of the entire selection.

In this case, the note at the bottom of the list just says Billigs Handbook Vol. 4, so that is something to start with...

No problem Cjd. I found the following website and followed the links. Used a translation website to go from Dutch to English. Everything you ever want to know about these numerical cancellations.

http://allanwestphall.com/stamps/nu...lecting.html

Thanks

And then some! Thanks for sharing the link(s). That's good stuff.