Lets Not Forget Squared Circle Cancels.

On an earlier poll taken a while ago, a lot of collectors posted the only collect mint stamps...How boring that would be if every one of us all collected mint stamps only..EVERY ONES collection would be exactly the same, if you know what I mean.

I am having trouble with my scanner, so please be patient.

Here are a couple of my squared circle cancels.

My oldest is the Scott 41 below.

LOCATION: Kingston, Ontario
CANCEL DATE: June 12th, 1894 (my oldest so far, still going through stamps)
HAMMER: Type 2
CLERK #:3



Here is one more...

LOCATION: Belleville, Ontario
CANCEL DATE:Jan, 17th, 1899
HAMMER: Type 3
CLERK #: 2



DOES ANY ONE HAVE OLDER SQUARED CIRCLE CANCELS.

Here's one from Tilsonburg, Ontario on cover -




and another from Brantford, Ontario on a postal card -

Battlestamps...Nice strike.
Does not have clerk # as shown in the blue circle..Some have it and some do not...Tilsonburg was one that did not.



PROOFED:Oct. 16th, 1893
EARLIEST:Oct. 19th, 1893
LATEST:(A.M.) June. 7th,1900

Post master at the time was E.D.Tillson

Keep our eye open, cause some squared circles for Tilsonburg were printed with an error..Some had a double "L"

Robert

wert
here are a few covers - woud appreciate your comments on the cancels-my only reference is Unitrade 2018 pp 650-651-652




Am pretty sure the 3rd cancel is not a square circle postmark - dated 1878....

Rene

Another interesting thread - thanks for starting it Robert!

I agree! I simply love postmarks - a clean mint stamp collection without any postmarks whatsoever - no sign of the postal service stamps were supposed to do, no evidence of where or when a stamp was used....well, then one could maybe just as well collect stickers ....


I was not aware that the digit on top of the squared circles represent the clerk # - cool!


Rene - lovely covers! Afraid neither of them are squared circles, but guess you know that already (?) The first has a numeral cancel in duplex (duplex with CDS on a single hammer), 2nd has a mute 9-bar cancel in duplex and the last has a lovely 'fancy' cancel and CDS.
btw - quite a peculiar shade on the 3c small queen on your first cover - seems to have oxidized into a purple shade! (at least on my monitor)

Keep them coming

I knew they were not square circles postmarks (ref: Unitrade and the Web) but I wanted a knowledgeable member to confirm and just discuss the cancels and Thanks !

Funny colour (color)on the 3cent cover, indeed.

And I had no intention of hijacking wert's thread - sorry wert

I would respectfully question (and seek proof of) the statement that the extra internal number is a "clerk number". It is far more likely to be a "device number" and a way to differentiate several similar devices in an office - and to quickly identify among the handstamps when an errant date or time needs changing, etc. It seems illogical that an office with multiple employees would give a canceling monopoly to 1 or 2 clerks.

This "device numbering" method would also be consistent with numbering dials or killers of machine cancels in offices with multiple machines.

That internal "number" is usually referred to as a time mark, it is not always a number either, you can find AM, PM, NT (no time) etc. That inaccuracy was bugging me for a few days, but I am by no means an expert on the squared circle, and hoped someone else would post and confirm.

The true identity is called "time marks" or "direction marks"...I apologize for misleading you as per "clerk mark"...But is was changed as per needed (by a clerk) especially for cover direction as to final destination.

Robert