Mysterious Cancel On Great Britain 1854-5 1-P

If I am right, this is Great Britain Scott #9, perf 16 and re-engraved. I am, however, more interested in the face of the stamp. It is not a recognizable postal marking and is a two line stamped portion of a Name? Company? Office? Position? Is it an earlier form of Precancel? Is it from a document? I have no idea and was wondering if anyone out there has run across this particular cancellation before. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that it is a revenue usage.

Presumably "Chief Cashier", so a fiscal use.

I think it might be Chief Office. The Penny Red stars were replaced by Penny Reds with letters in all four corners in 1864. The Customs and Inland Revenue Act 1881 that unified the use of postage and revenue stamps did not come into force until 1 June 1881. Penny Red stars had not been current for 17 years.

Or indeed Chief Cashier of a bank: banker's parcels.

But that first letter of the second word on the lower line does not look like the "C" in "Chief."

Nice solution, Geoff.
Not seen any example of an official script letterpress, on any GB QV stamp, ever

A curious item, a keeper.

All good possibilities and I fully agree that Chief does seem to be followed by a Capital "C" so Cashier does seem to make sense, especially if that is a designation in use at the time. Stumps me, though, what the upper line is saying. Logically, the line should be as long as the second line so a missing word. "Fran" is most likely France in full. Then ????? Getting really hypothetical here but .....

France Office Of
Chief Commissioner

or something to that effect. This only makes sense is there was some sort of franking privilege used in government offices. Chief Cashier makes much more sense. Really, I should rein myself in before I invent an entire story having to do with intrigue and spies and the Crimean war. But 150 year old mysteries do fascinate.

There is not the slightest similarity between the "C" in "Chief" and the part letter following "Chief." The whole loop at the top of the "C" is not there. It curves inwards much earlier. The thickness at bottom right is not there and there is no indication it is lack of ink. At the bottom left there is a "box" inside the curve with a line that goes right and then comes dow, whereas in the "C" it is the loop to the lower end that moves left and curls back. That, almost certainly, is an "O."

I cannot see how France could be an option. The only name I can link to the letters "Fran" would be Frankfort in Kilkenny, Ireland. Script cancellations were used in Ireland. However, Chief Office for such a small village appears unlikely.

The Penny Red with stars in top cornes missed fiscal use of postage stamps by 17 years. It is not impossible, but unlikely someone kept the stamp for 17 years or longer and then used it as receipt stamp.

I would look at postal use. Such a fancy cancel would be strange for private company use. It might be quite a rare cancel, if it is genuine.

The font is very similar to the French Consulate in Sydney.

My guess is it's from the French Consulate in London.

I do not see "Franc." The letter after "Fran" has a long, straight line. It appears to extent into the perforation hole. Something like an h or k looks more likely.

NSK, I can see what you are referring to. The long stroke would likely refer to the letter "k" as I cannot think of a likely word using anything else having a long upper stroke. Raises two options in my mind; a name or a money reference.

Would it possibly be a person's name and position?

Frank (... Somebody ...)
Chief ( ... Cashier ...)

This seems a little too casual for the Victorian era, though. Place name? Business Name?

Fran(k) as an alternate spelling of the monetary unit, Franc?

Looks like I will not find a solution unless somebody in the community has seen this word and letter arrangement before as a complete impression on a document or an envelope.

If it was an overprint in Frank (Switzerland, but also uses French spelling), it would be a huge misprint. Also, I am not aware of Great Britain occupying Switzerland or any other country that used a Frank or Franc as currency. I, also, would expect to find a reference to such an overprint on the BOS-site.

I also still am quite certain there is no capital C after "Chief." In fact, I am quite sure it is a script capital O or Q, or maybe E.

As you write "Frank ... / Chief (Officer?, Enquirer?)" would be too casual. That would have been "Mr. Frank ...."

The revenue option - I cannot rule it out with certainty - is highly unlikely, as the stamp would not have become valid as receipt or draft stamp until at least 17 years after it had been replaced by a stamp with four corner letters and plate numbers on each side.

Customs and Inland Revenue Act 1881, article 47:

Stamp duties of one penny may be denoted by postage stamps and vice versa

On and after the first day of June one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one any stamp duties of one penny which may legally be denoted by adhesive stamps not appropriated by any word or words on the face of them to any particular description of instrument, may be denoted by adhesive penny postage stamps; and on and after that day postage duties may be paid by the use of penny adhesive stamps not appropriated by any word or words on the face of them to postage duty, or to any particular description of instrument.

A business name would have invalidated the stamp. This would imply revenue usage (I think a very late one) or a banker's parcel if not ordinary postal use. Maybe there was a bank "Frank..." Another reason to discard fiscal use is that this company would have stamps in stock for 17 years, but able to afford a cancellation stamp and not just cancel it with a pen.

Script cancellations did exist. Ireland, in particular, had some. Frankfort would fit Ireland, but Chief Office is unlikely for that village.

The Great Britain Philatelic Society might have more insights into what exactly this is. Or you could try contact this site http://pennyreds.co.uk/.

Yesterday, I rceived the Stanley Gibbons Great Britain Spring 2021 brochure.

Guess what I just found on page 15!



And congratulations on that lovely stamp.

This is fantastic. Much more than I had counted on and a reflection on the tremendous family of enthusiasts we have here. My next project? Look up a biography of this person who, by the way, sounds like a fascinating person from the snippets I find on line.

Thank you.

Bravo! NSK
Extraordinary. Nice to have that one solved.

Any idea of the "damage" ? Perhaps the perforations ?

Rod222 No sign of damage or flaws in the stamp other than poor centering which is par for the course. No gum, though it does not appear ever to have been stuck down. If an entire sheet were marked, or even a portion of it, then the flaws would not necessarily apply to every stamp. It was just one in a glassine containing a dozen or so 1p stamps, mostly #33 because I was looking for plate numbers.

A great find Backroads,
It nobbled all of us here, that takes some doing.

I find it also interesting, as it has pertinence to my Turkish Collection
I had never heard of him before.