Stranger on a strange land
One of the reasons I love digging junky stamp lots is a possibility to find something interesting with very limited bugdet. Or what would you say about this casual looking Swiss stamp?
1960 Switzerland (Helvetia) postage stamp with UK cancel. Michel #696, cat. value 0.20€
It does look ordinary, but take a closer look of the cancel… A swiss stamp that was cancelled in Buxton, a small spa town in Derbyshire, England… I don’t know how common this kind of “wrong country”-cancels are in general, but I got only few dozens of similar items around the world. So I’d assume these to be somewhat limited and scarce resource.
The stamp is from the 1960/68 Swiss definitive postage stamp series displaying postal History motives and monuments. This 5 centimes value shows 17th century mail delivery from Freiburg.
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At the time this stamp was emitted it was customary to put a stamp of arrival on the letter. You see a small part of a cancellation of departure on the left. The arrival stamp was put on the center of the postage stamp. Interesting though these cancellations. And a good observation in the pile of junk mail
Hi toon,
well spotted… I’m well aware of arrival cancels, but for some reason it never crossed my mind (as most of the time arrival cancels are on stamped on card/cover – not on stamp itself).
best,
-keijo-
PS. You have nice looking site…
I’m afraid toon is wrong; arrival cancels have not been used in Great Britain for many decades (certainly well before 1981) and when they were, they were usually handstamps.
It is most likely that the addressee had moved house (or that the letter from Switzerland was mis-delivered) and that the Buxton postmark was applied when it was readdressed and reposted.
It still happens, but presents an unusual and interesting situation
Hi Ian,
I think the cancel says 1961, but it’s hard to tell with certainty though… Indeed, you provide an interesting (and very likely) alternative story for this cancellation. It’s a shame this item is not on cover/card…
best,
-keijo-
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