Cancel Question: Postal Or Fiscal On British Q V Half Penny?

And if a full cancel image could be posted, some dancing for joy may occur.





Edit for 2nd image.

I think it's a postal cancellation, and the "PB" is part of "NPB", which stands for Newspaper Branch. (½d was the postal rate for newspapers.) Alcock and Holland provide this illustration of one of a large number of different NPB cancellations. It's not very similar, but it shows the typical large P and small N and B:


EDIT: R C Alcock and F C Holland: British postmarks, a short history and guide, revised edition, 1977. Indispensable!

Thank you for the reply pjr, but you image while similar seems to have an "A" below the "P" which does not show on the stamp. The stamp has a black line under the "P" with no room for anything between the line and letter.

Edited to add: But the ner match does cause one to think postal.

Yes, it's not the same cancellation (I wrote, "It's not very similar"), but it's a Newspaper Branch cancellation that shows the big P, small B and the edge of the small N. It's closer to your example than any of the other nine examples that Alcock and Holland illustrate. But NPB cancellations make up "a very large group with many designs," the expert authors say.

I haven't been able to make you dance for joy, but I think I've answered your question correctly. If anybody can provide an exact match, I'll dance for joy too, but there is no doubt at all that this stamp was postally used to post a newspaper.

The minor extra details helped clarify understanding. Thank you.

I agree with pjr. It is a newspaper branch cancellation.

Somewhat similar to figure 190 (page 137 of below link):


Page 36:
https://www.gbps.org.uk/information...20(1909).pdf