Queensland Catalog of Receiving Office Manuscripts on Postage Stamps by Dr Jeremy Hodes: Mossman River

Thursday 5 November 2015

Mossman River

Mossman River receiving office, 10 km north west of Port Douglas. The Receiving Office opened in June 1883 and was elevated to a post office in 1895. The receiving office keeper in 1883 was Richard Jones, a merchant; in 1884 James Richardson; in 1885 W. Richards, a farmer; and in 1888 Thomas Wilson, a farmer

Manuscript cancellation dated 1888 rated Very Rare

Mossman River manuscript cancellation dated 25 October 1888 with a Port Douglas numeral cancellation no 256 and rated Very Rare. Seen at Phoenix Auction no 41 lot no 1134

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A blog listing the different Queensland receiving office manuscript cancellations found on Queensland (Chalon, Sideface and Commonwealth) postage stamps. To find the receiving office you are looking for select from the alphabetical tabs above or the labels below

While hundreds of receiving offices existed for various lengths of time, almost all did not use distinctly recognisable markings. Most receiving offices followed the instructions of either not cancelling the stamp but letting the first "Official" Post Office that the mail arrived at do this, or they followed a later instruction to write the receiving offices' name on the envelope or postcard near the stamp. To see this you would need the envelope or postcard.

However, if the letter was a "local" mail, that is used in the same town / area, then this did have to be cancelled. This is where most of the crosses, names and initials come from. Occasionally these markings were also applied to mail destined for other areas.

All identifiable manuscript cancellations are therefore extremely scarce and hard to find, with the possible exceptions of Cania, Mt Larcom, Parson's Point and San Jose.

The rarity rating, given this caveat, is Scarce, for the most commonly found cancels, Rare, and then Very Rare where only 1 or two examples have been seen by me. All covers and postcards (with the possible exception of Parson's Point) are extremely rare and desirable.

Information about the receiving offices comes from Joan Frew: Queensland Post Offices 1842-1980 and Receiving Offices 1869-1927, published in 1981

You can contact me on jeremy2929@gmail.com

Copyright Dr Jeremy Hodes 2023 for content and my images. Copyright for all other images and auction text descriptions rests with the organisations and individuals listed at the image level

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Thursday 5 November 2015

Mossman River

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