Antigua Postmarks On Their Early Coats Of Arms Series.

Just a few stamps with readable circular date stamps. The large size of the stamps has allowed for that information to be captured. I have 120 stamps of this issue but only 20 actually have the strike I am seeking. In working with the stamps I have, I have seen a range of year dates from 1903-1937. I suspect some collectors who were around at the time the issue was current made an effort to get such postmarks for their collections.

Maybe they mailed their stamps to the postmaster for the post marking service or they visited the island as a navy seaman, a merchant mariner or a tourist. I am glad they did so as it allowed some nice postmarks to be "discovered" all these years later. I know that some postmarks were arranged by a collector because often all the stamps in the series have the same date.

St. John's is the most common postmark naturally being the capital.

I did find a couple St. Mary's and partials of other smaller postmarks, but I have been unable to ascertain their names. I was surprised at first to find some Barbuda postmarks, but like it says on the coats of arms in Latin, Antiguae et Barbudae.
ST. JOHN'S 21OC03
ST. JOHN'S 04NO03
ST. JOHN'S C 09NO15 with a control letter "C" in the postmark
ST. JOHN'S 29JU04
ST. JOHN'S 04MY04
ST. JOHN'S 28AP04
BARBUDA 05JA24 thank goodness for favor postmarks -otherwise this postmark would be very elusive
ST. MARY'S 28SP09 the best I could find for St. Mary's on this issue
ST JOHN'S C 07OC09 another postmark with a control letter "C"

I love them! That's a great collection.

What does "controll letter" C mean? For what reason they used it?
I would also love to know which other smaller postmarks you found
Aaand what's the exact date where the collector was active?

Inside the actual postmark you sometimes find one tiny bit of information beside the post office name and the date. It could be 1 letter (e.g. A, B, C). a number (1,2,3....) or an asterisk (*).

It allows the post office to know who postmarked what when, when the control number appears in the postmark.

Honestly, I have not read anything documenting the subject, but this is conjecture from my handling of such material. Maybe it also identifies when a postmark should be taken from service once it becomes defective.

I am happy that you like this presentation. It was fun putting it together.

Here are the titles of three other posts which contain postmarks of Mauritius and Gambia:
1. Mauritius - Posting More Coats Of Arms Stamps
2. Gambia - Postally Used Copies Of Edward VII Stamps
3. Each Stamps Has Its Own Story. I Join Today And Maybe I Will Tell Some Stories I Learned.