POSTMARKS and CANCELLATIONS across the globe! [NOT commemorative ones]


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Beautiful! What’s the part written in Latin letters? Is it the Zhuang language (壮语)? Looks very interesting and I love how postmarks from the PRC always include the local language!

By the way, as you can all tell, the postmark index isn’t really up to date anymore. The first post is too long, which is why I can’t add new entries anymore. Does anyone have alternative solutions for this? I’d like each stamp to be readily available at the click of a mouse!

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Yes, you are right. It’s Zhuang language. The letter or card send from Guangxi, Xinjiang, Jilin, Neimenggu, Tibet, Yunnan, somewhere of Sichuan, Qinhai and Ganshu provinces, the local language on their postmarks.

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This postmark from Jinghong in Yunnan province. You can see the Thai language on the postmark.

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Some older Canadian cancels.

These ones are from some older covers and I do not think these cancels are in use anymore. I think most are from the 90s and early 2000 maybe.

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There were also some that were only the circle. These were on a hand “hammer” type application I believe.
Some stations seemed to have them longer while most were recalled. I had one wonderful postmaster who kept theirs for many years past the recalled time because she knew many collectors liked the circle cancel rather than the new square. (But I have not seen it the last year so I think it may finally be discontinued)

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And the “typical” current hand cancel are the squares.

Whether they get machine canceled as well is hit or miss…
(both above sent from same post office, same recipient, same month even, one also got machined, other did not)

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And we do have quite a few offices that have a permanent pictorial cancel.


Update: June 2023 the St. George applefest cancel is no longer available. :frowning: They now have a square with a number. (not even the CP logo).



These should be listed on Canada Post website cancels page (but sadly its not well maintained and many are missing). This page will also list special commemorative cancels here and the date it is available will be below the image and address of the cancel (often just one year for the commemorative ones).

These examples scanned here are permanently available at the specific office, usually commemorating something specific to that town (often a festival or local landmark), but you do have to ask for them specifically as it is applied by hand. If not asked for then your mail goes straight to the machine and may (or likely not) get a machine cancel instead.
Sadly some of the long time cancels do get dirty and never cleaned so they end up smudgy and messy…My mom was so bold that she brought her stamp cleaning supplies to her office and cleaned the cancel for them so she could send some with a nice clear cancel. :grin: It was a small town and had nice postal workers that allowed her too. (I am not sure all postal workers would be happy to do that but it sure is tempting!).
(I thought I had more examples but apparently not. Or at least not handy. )

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There happens to be a real novel UK Royal Mail postmark urging you to “Get Boosted Now”. Such a strong message, part of a bigger vaccination campaign of the same name.

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I found a few more Canadian permanent pictorial cancels. From 2016 onward (I estimate based on what I saw in person) some cancels were updated. Previously the image completely enclosed in the words (like the St George Brant one in my previous post) . The new versions have the image break the circle of words at the top. But even today it is very sporadic if a cancel is one way or the other. Prior to 2016 Ayr had the thistle fully inside the circle of words so when I went to get a cancel in 2016 i was surprised it had been slightly altered to have the thistle break the words (as even then the website had the full circle of words version).


The Port Dover postmaster was nice enough to put one cancel on the back of the envelop as well so it could be seen in full.


The Spencerville one is fairly recent I think…sometime after 2010, maybe 2015 on??? The mill was at risk of falling into the river in the 90s but was thankfully saved and the foundations repaired so it is now promoted as a historic site (well it was promoted as a historic site even before the repairs…). The town has many nice old stone buildings and some antique shops. The Spencerville Mill postmark does show up on the CP cancels page…

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Here’s a special cancellation mark that arrived on the 22nd December.

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Hello @Cassiopheia! Just wondering how did you get a mail from North Korea? :slight_smile:

I’m thinking to send/receive a mail to/from North Korea but don’t know where/how to start :sweat_smile:

Jme

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