Angola Marking

Hi All

Somewhere in the distant past, I saw an article on a marking like this, but, I cannot remember the source.

They are large oval '100' markings. I am wondering if this is a special marking, or, is it a form of marking used on registered mail from this country?

Thanks a lot

Chimo

Bujutsu

My best guess, pending a review of my ISPP journals, is that it's probably a registration mark of some kind, as you surmise. Or maybe some sort of indicator of revenue use. The marking is not in my references on forged postmarks and it does not appear to be a censorship marking of some kind either. Best I can do until I can check the tables of contents of my journals in next few days. In the meantime, someone else may see the thread and identify it right away. I know that I don't have the marking on any of my used Portuguese colonial Ceres issues. Steve

Good Sunday morning, Bujutsu. I found your markings in some back issues of Portu Info, the ISPP quarterly journal (ISPP = International Society for Portuguese Philately). Turns out both of us missed; you thinking it was a registration marking and me thinking it meant some sort of revenue usage. It's actually a mute postmark, or cancellation; "mute" meaning no date or town name.

Back in the late 1980s, Portu-Info ran a series of articles on postal markings of Angola and that is where I found the reference. Basically, the cancelers were in use due to post offices not having enough money to buy regular canceling devices (?? questionable reason as per the two articles). Numbers supposedly exist from 50 to 500; with 100 being the number assigned to Benguela, Porte Alexandre and four smaller towns along the rail line. There is an illustration of a 100 marking used in Bela Vista in 1946 on a cover going to Boston, MA (quality of the photo doesn't allow for scanning). The cancelers seem to be a creation of the 1940s.

Hope this helps. I had not seen this before, as I noted. So, it was an informative search for me (I joined the ISPP in 1991, but bought some back issues, most of which I had filed and forgotten). Steve

Thanks for this information Steve.

I will note this in my files next to the block shown.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Good evening,




Dear Bujutsu,

These numeral cancellations, markings, were used on the XIXth century (payment amount by the recipient), etc, etc... and on XXth century they were used again in several Angola post offices.

There are several studies about them (mainly in Portuguese language) in spite they do not agree with the same interpretations.

It seems the most probable is that they are just provisional cancellations during 1920s-->40s (before the arrival/acquisition of a proper datestamp) and we know at least the following "numbers" within an oval (on stamps):

50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300, 350, 400 and 500.

They have not the same scarcity on stamps (some of them are rare). Occasionaly some of these numbers appear in auctions, here and there, on cover.

Two of most relevant studies about them are the following: (The Correia (1998) text also reports several other previous studies):

CORREIA, Dr. Elder Manuel Pinto (1998). "História postal de Angola (2) Obliterações numéricas ovais". In Boletim do Clube Filatélico de Portugal nº 381 Setembro 1998. Lisboa: Clube Filatélico de Portugal. (Portuguese)

MAGALHÃES, Alexandre Guedes de; and the International Society for Portuguese Philately (1989). "Postal Markings of Angola" in Portu-Info nº94. (English). Previoulsy published in Portugal in Portuguese language.

Thank you card12 for taking the time and effort on this. I was also wondering if they could be a form of provisional cancellation too.

Happy collecting

Chimo

Bujutsu