Austria : Offices In Crete.

1903
Steiner Page 8.

Varnish Bars are easily distinguished here.



1908
Steiner Page 9



Personal Page. Varieties.

Nice stamps Rod, especially showing the varnish bars. I have a preference for postally used stamps, so the varnish bars are more like vanish bars.

The misnomer with these stamps is that they were valid not only for Crete but all through their Levantine offices. Here's my two-pennn'orth with an assortment of Beirut, Constantinople, Jerusalem and other postmarks (as I believe yours have).



The stamps at the end of this next picture (actually in blocks of 4, but folded for convenience at the moment) are the 2 francs and 4 francs you're missing. They're easier to find mint than used.



Finally here's a few which appear to have been genuinely used in Crete:

Wow ... very nice collections!

But the most interesting is the 10 Soldi of Lombardo-Venetia.
Could this really have been cancelled in Crete?

Nice Tim. I am also curious about the L-V - I can't make out the cancel.

Yes, this one puzzles me too. It's got a straight-line cancel with what looks like CAN... (I assume this to be CANEA)and an unspecified date. It came from an ancient album page of Crete stamps and I just stuck it in with the rest. If anyone's got any better suggestions, my lug-holes are pinned back!

The cancellation seems to be italic as well in the typographical way, with a number (date?) right below. This could be similar to this stamp from Udine/Venetia.



But finding the town will be not easy (Canale d'Agordo, Canaro, Canda, Candiana ...).

Yes, the 10 soldi stamp has a straight line CANEA cancellation.

This was the only straight line postmark used by the Austro-Hungarian post offices in Crete.

There were only three Austro-Hungarian post offices in Crete: in Chania (CANEA), Iraklion (CANDIA) and Rethymno (RETTIMO).

The Austro-Hungarian Post offices used Lombardy-Venetia stamps in Crete (and in many other places in the Ottoman Empire) before the Turkish currency stamps were issued.

The French currency stamps were NOT issued for particular use in Crete and many more of them are found used by offices elsewhere.

However, "Post Offices in Crete" has become a traditional description for these stamps in some catalogues including both Scott and Michel.

The format of the CANEA postmark is the same as the one Tommtomm has shown from Udine.

The second line has the date only as the day of the month (which here looks like 30) followed by an abbreviation of the month in Italian (in this case I think it's November).

No year was given and sometimes the month was given before the day.

Fabulous stuff, gentlemen ! Thank you all.

I knew Nigel was a big fan of Crete, it's great to get some deeper knowledge on the postmarks, gives us opportunity to forage through our own postmarks, for some meaningful and abstruse strikes.

"Meaningful and abstruse strikes"? You mean Dougie Walters?

There's a gentleman, whom knows his cricket intimately
Will Australia suffer a "whitewash" on home soil this week ?
(Never happened before)
Begins today.

To maintain philatelic content...
The DUNGOG Pmk

Nigel, many thanks for clarifying. I knew there had to be a Crete expert out there somewhere! I will keep my eyes open for similar cancels.