Postmarks.day By Day

Tuesday November 11, 2025

In 1898, November 11 was a Friday and the ceasefire in the Spanish-American war was 3 months old, less a day. The postmark on this five cent American stamp featuring former president U.S. Grant is from the Military Station No. 1, in the Philippines. (That office appears to be a branch of the post office in San Francisco). The war started on April 21 and the Treaty of Paris on December 10 concluded the of state war.

The stamp is from an 1890 series featuring famous persons including former presidents and was issued in blue in 1898.

West Germany Scott B363

Cancelled on NOVEMBER 11 1958 at MÜNCHEN

11-11-1925 postcard cut square postmarked Pyritz, Germany (now Pyrzyce, Poland).

This town first settled around the 10th century as part of Poland then was repeatedly occupied, first by the Imperial Army from 1628, then by Sweden from 1630, etc. In 1871 it was incorporated into unified Imperial Germany and during WWII was the site of a large German Army prisoner-of-war camp. Following the post-war boundary changes, Pyrzyce was restored to Poland.

Today, Pyrzyce is home to the second oldest Geothermal power plant in Poland, generating clean energy from Jurassic reservoirs of thermal waters (61°C / 142°F) about a mile deep.


And on this Veterans Day, we must not forget --

First of all, nice Veteran's Day postmark on the appropriate stamp!
Wednesday November 12, 2025
This half-penny Basutoland postal card cut square has captured ROMA MISSION - South Africa. But why South Africa if it is in Basutoland?
I surmise the mission was more important back then to people in South Africa than the local administration. Today the community hosts not only the founding Catholic mission but also the University of Lesotho.



Roma Mission lies in a valley shown here from the Roma Plateau in Lesotho.

Thursday, November 13, 2025

Umtali was founded as a fort in 1897, 8 kms. from the Mozambique border. Using the port of Beira, on the Indian Ocean, in Mozambique, Umtali became known as Rhodesia's "gateway to the sea". A railway was built between Salisbury (the then capital of Rhodesia) and Umtali (a distance of 274 km.) And it connected to Beira. Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) is a land locked country.



The British author Evelyn Waugh (Brideshead Revisited) wrote of Umtali that "there was neither snow nor sea but had everything else".

The stamp is from the first set of the British South Africa Company issued in 1890. The postmark reads Umtali NO 13 98 Rhodesia. A control number 4 also appears in the postmark.
Why might there be a need for such a high valued stamp? Gold shipments and elephant tusks were regularly mailed back to England at that time. Those stamps were also used for revenue purposes (customs & duty).
Today, Umtali is known as Mutare, renamed in 1982.

Maldive Islands Post Card

Cancelled on NOVEMBER 13 1995 at MALÉ

Friday November 14, 2025

The postmark I found for today is DECAMERE 14.X1.47 (ERITREA). Decamere, as it was known at that time, was a town in a vineyard region of Eritrea. It was an Italian colonial town in which Italy invested a lot of money, transforming the town. However, it lost control of the region to British Forces. At the time this postmark was applied to the mailing, most Italians had already left the region following the surrender of Italian forces during WWII. Those Italians remaining in 1947 evacuated as ethnic cleansing was happening in the community.

The stamp in the image is a two penny George VI definitive, overprinted M.E.F. (Middle East Forces). MEF stamps were used during British occupation of certain regions beginning in 1943 and ending in 1948.



Today, the town is known as Dekemhare.
This Google map shows the location of the town in Africa.

Saturday November 15, 2025

The first stamp I found with today's date is a four and a half penny stamp from the series marking the 50th. anniversary of the regency of Queen Victoria who is featured on the stamp.
The postmark reads SOUTH SHIELDS NO 15 94 with a control number 1 showing.


This town is on the River Tyne and at the time the letter was mail to which this stamp was affixed, the area was known for ship building.

BONUS

C NO 15 71 SYDNEY postmark is shown on a pair of three penny stamps from New South Wales. The Queen Victoria stamp was issued in 1860 and re-issued in 1871 with one of the differences being a watermark change. There are also variations in the perforations.

Also for today...canceled November 15, 1908 at Assens, Denmark, a city located on the west coast of the island of Funen.

Canada FDC Scott 489

FDC was postmarked NOVEMBER 15 1968 at OTTAWA ONTARIO CANADA

Sunday November 16, 2025




My postmark of the day reads PENANG TO SINGAPORE 16 NO 1907

I was trying to figure out the final destination of this postcard. You can see by the machine postmark that it began its journey in Scotland (GLASGOW OCT 02 07). Somewhere in Great Britain it was put in a mail bag for Penang. I would assume it left on a vessel that had freight for Penang but was not going to Singapore. So, the mail was landed in Penang. There the mail bag was opened, and it received the Penang to Singapore cancel one month and five days after the initial mailing. But what was the final destination? Most logically Singapore. Maybe.

However, Penang to Singapore seems like a transit marking rather than a final destination.

Then I googled the addressee, W. R. Darling and this is what I discovered:

"W.R. Darling was likely a European resident or part of the supervisory staff at the Christmas Island phosphate mine around 1907-1908. Historical records, primarily from philatelic (stamp collecting) sources, indicate he received mail there at that time."

Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) was part of Singapore at that time. I think that is where the card finally ended up.

The stamp affixed is as follows:
Stamp World Nr.103 for Great Britain 1 penny red King Edward VII first issued in 1902.

Also for today...canceled November 16, 1939 at Merritton, Ontario, a community within Saint Catharines.

Monday November 17, 2025



The postmark reads: BROKEN HILL 17 NOV 1910 N.W. RHODESIA
The image is from a cut square of a 1 penny postal card from the British South Africa Company. Broken Hill is located in an area that became Northern Rhodesia and is now in the country of Zambia. The town has since been renamed Kabwe.

Here is the story behind the naming of the town back in the early 1900's:
Thomas Garfield Davey, an Australian prospector, named the site in 1904 after the Broken Hill Mine in New South Wales, Australia, due to similar mineral formations. The Rhodesian Broken Hill Development Company was formed to mine the lead and zinc deposits, which were crucial for funding railroad construction in the region.

The 'BH' in BHP comes from Broken Hill.

Austria Scott 1453

I havent a postmark for NOVEMBER 17
So here is one cancelled on the 17th of month ZERO 1989 at KAPRUN