KGV Air Mail Cancel - Opinions Sought...

Hello-

I just received this and I would be interested in any background or other opinions on it. It looks a little strange, but (a) it didn't cost an arm and a leg; and (b) KGV-era airmail-related items from Great Britain are not that plentiful.



The seller did disclose that the stamp might look like it has been struck twice. I've found FS airmail cancels online, but none that look like this.

Thoughts?

Thanks for looking.

C.

[edit: Just so I'm clear, I'm fine with an opinion that it looks dodgy if that's what you're thinking...you won't hurt my feelings.]

I know very little about these types of cancels. So actually, I have some questions.

1. Is that one cancel, or 2 cancels overlayed? I ask because I noticed differences in inking shade and misorientation of some lines. Maybe that's normal?
2. If 1 cancel, is the outer circle actually supposed to be perfectly circular or is it just an oval? If perfectly circular, can you draw a circle that matches the arcs at each corner and also the bottom row of perfs? I don't have the proper software on my computer. Just curious.

Thanks!

k

Hi Cjd and k,

This looks a perfectly OK single postmark to me. It's LONDON FS AIR MAIL where FS is the abbreviation for Foreign Section, also often seen on non-airmail London postmarks, as opposed to IS for Inland Section or the many local London postmarks.

It looks like a rubber handstamp so some distortion seems reasonable.

Thanks, Nigel! Good to know/learn!

k

Thanks for the opinions. I was wondering if there were two different strikes, but after spending more time looking at it, I think the shifting is just due to a partial double-strike of the stamper.

k, I'm sure we both have software on our computers that would perform the task...we just don't know it. I have a drafter's circle template that I use for just such a task as this, but I can't find it right now. I gingerly tried to trace around with a compass, but it is pretty inexact when you can't stick a nice, solid centerpoint to swing your arcs. Seems to fit a circle.

The FS Air Mail cancels I've seen have all been on covers, with the circular date stamp way to the left of the stamps, and a wavy-bar killer hitting the stamps. So, I'm happy to have a cds socked on the nose.

Congrats, Collin!

Thanks for posting the pic. Learned ANOTHER new thing today on SCF!!

k

By the way, there were at least four types of LONDON FS AIR MAIL postmarks:

• CDS (from 1930)
• rubber CDS (from 1931)
• machine CDS and wavy lines (from 1934)
• rubber hooded Registered CDS (from 1948)

OK, make that 5 more things I learned...

k

Nigel (or anyone else), do you have a picture example of those 4 types of cancels? Thanks in advance!

Wow. Fabulous information.

Just curious if anyone knows, does Collect British Postmarks go into this kind of detail? I've been meaning to get it anyway for the lists of p.o. numbers.

Yes indeed, it's Collect British Postmarks by Whitney that I was quoting!