Foreign Cancel On Half-Cent 1897 Jubilee

Philatelically, I live to find the unusual like this.

Unfortunately, I cannot identify the blue-green cancel using the otherwise excellent postmark-reveal.

It could be Swedish, as I purchased it from a Swedish auction house. Am grateful to the specialist who can identify it. Thanks for looking.

Have you considered the cancel's colour is due to deterioration and was not bluish-green when applied?

My best guess is this cancel:



ARMY P.O. 55

S. AFRICA

Sorry for the poor image. I'll see if I can hunt up a better image tonight, if no one else has piped up.

I'm pretty comfortable with ARM_ P._ _5 and S. A_____

The Y and the O are educated guesses and I think I see the first 5. I also think AFRICA fits.

Since those are black cancels: how much remains of 'foreign' if, indeed, the cancel on OP's stamp was once black and not blue-green?

There appear also something at the centre of the cancel and in the lower left corner of the stamp that are lacking in those army p.o. cancels.

Thanks for all your posts so far, I think the South Africa cancel is correct. The geometry is right, I could pull out the "ARM" and other pieces readily.

There is a faint underlying cancel in black which is almost certainly Canadian, in fact I can make out NO 27 but not the year.

As for the colour of the cancel, it is what it is, in person the stamp looks fresh and free of cleaning or tampering.

One can only imagine what cover it traveled on. The Boer War era fits in well with its period of issue.

Not all of them are mute. Here is a 53 with a date:





If, under magnification, someone said "no, it's 65" or "it's 35" my feelings won't be hurt. I think we're on the right track, though.

Well done ! Collin,
I only had an A, thought the rest ilegible.

Yes, an impressive solve Carnac, many thanks

Clearly you've put in your 10000 hours of philatelic study!

Hope I can return the favour someday.

That's a fun stamp. I'm happy to have seen it.

Found a similar strike, this cover image copied from a postal history website maintained by the Postal History Society of Canada.

Though the date indicia are similar, the ones on the stamp are in black ink. I'm inclined to think the stamp was first cancelled in Canada, but not to the satisfaction of the postmaster at the Army P.O.