What Does "Cns" Stand For?

2099 in fact. 2100 is only suggested to exist, as it would mirror Victoria.

I maintain Victoria went to 2100 to spite NSW, not emulate them. We stopped in 1904 and they continued to 1906, intercolonial rivalry being what it was and all that......

Further, why would Falls Creek, Combana & Merah Morth, which all opened before July 1904, not get numerals? Seems to me the PMG was a bit all over the place towards the end of numeral allocations.

Nice thread, I learnt a bit today.

In his 2nd Edition of his excellent book, The Numeral Cancellations of New South Wales, Hugh Freeman lists 18 post offices, including the three mentioned by Bobby De La Rue above, as opened but "cannot at this time be allocated to any numeral".

Numeral 2099 has been recorded for Toolejooa, which opened on 1st July, 1904. Hugh lists Parragundy as the likely candidate for numeral 2100, having opened on the same day as Toolejooa, although no numeral strike has yet been recorded (rated NNR).

Just as many of the previous NNR numerals have subsequently been discovered by diligent philatelists, we may one day find the stamp, piece or cover that reveals the existence and possibly the identity of NSW numeral 2100.

He suggests that Victoria, issuing their last number (2100) over two years later, copied the logic of finishing at that number from New South Wales.

This is BN 2100 of King Valley, Victoria.

Hi fairdinkumstamps,

Have you seen this thread?

https://goscf.com/t/61166

I will be adding some more research to it later today.

Yes, very interesting research Bobby De La Rue - thank you.

I will take a more thorough look at some of your discoveries and postulations when I have a bit more time. e.g. a scan of 657 vs 557 - at my first glance the 6 does not seem to resemble the first 5.

CNS = Currently not seen, but believed to exist

Purves, Watson Webster and Wood

My apologies for not replying earlier Fairdinkumstamps, I just saw your reply

Here's Hugh's 657/557 (well, mine now) and a couple of others of mine to compare.



This one is from Premier Postal.



The scan isn't as good as looking at it under a loupe of course. At any rate, the rays confirm on their own that it's the same device.

There is no way that a 3R20 would've replaced a 3R12 some time after 1872, as a new contract with John Thornthwaite was in place from numeral 588 (PO opened 1/10/1870).

The 3R20 type (with some variation in the number of rays) was provided by John Sands from numeral 554 to 587.

After taking a good look, I agree with you Bobby De La Rue - that '657' is in fact a 557.

The tail of the 5 can be seen very faintly lower left (shown by yellow arrow). It's a mystery how the curve of the apparent 6 got there.