House Of Commons Cancellation

Found in a pile; a nice Sc523 with a cancellation from the House of Commons stamped on first day of issue (7 X 70).

This is the first time I see one, just sharing.

Nice stamp with house of commons cancel.
Just for your interest here is my house of commons letter with a HOC cancel.

Robert

Wert,

Your cancel indicates free postage in 1974.

I guest it was necessary to use a postage stamp in 1970, unless the stamp was used on purpose for a first day cover.

The Parliamentary Post Office cancel was and is applied to all mail collected there. Members of Parliament may use free franking on all official mail. It would also have the MP's signature or office stamp, in this case, Brian Gardiner. You, for example, could mail a letter there but it would require postage and it would get the same postmark.

This one is my "Free" example. It was political information mailed by my M.P. to an address in his riding.

The Post Mark from the Senate is very similar. In this case, because it is on a senate envelope, one can assume it was sent by a senator. However, because it was on private business, .... maybe buying some custom made shirts ???? .... , it required a stamp which was correctly applied.

1967
Free Frank House of Commons.
A. Doug Alkenbrack MP

May I suggest ... While these free frank impressions may occasionally print onto a stamp, they are not a "cancel" or a "postmark" in a postal service sense.

It appears these free franks are applied by modified meter machines, thus serving to indicate (like a meter) a date and a rate, which happens to be zero, applied by the user and then entered into the mail stream.

Thanks John. Noted.

Also, just to note that there were many First Day Covers issued with this "cancel".

That is the case here as a stamp is not actually required for this mail.

They are quite collectible.