Postmarks from around the world.

From my little experience this is most likely the date head of a machine. A cancellation with either with wavy lines or slogan next to it. If it was British I would say that is the machine number. It might be a duty reference but most likely the eighth such sorting machine in Berlin.

Perhaps PostmasterGS can provide some insight on the matter.

An update on the discussion regarding Renden's post above.  I went to the Germany & Colonies Philatelic Society and posted a query about the symbols and letters at the bottom of the dials in German hand stamps and specifically about the Roman numeral in Renden's post.  The gist of the replies that I got is  that feebletodix was correct.  The numbers and letters in the cancels relate to device numbers post office station numbers and employees using them.  The cancel with the Roman numeral, however, is not a hand stamp, but the dial of a machine canceling device.  The use of a Roman number at the bottom of the dial was previously unknown and of interest to the society's cancellation experts.  They are continuing to look into it.  So, from a cancel perspective Renden's stamp (now blaamand's?) is a special one at this time.  I hope cancel collectors reading this will watch for other examples of a German cancellation with a Roman numeral in the dial and report finds here.  

Don StampHinger

stamphinger - thanks for checking and establishing what those mysterious numbers mean! Quite interesting they were out of the ordinary, need to get home to my own Germans and check!


renden - thanks a lot, you know you are sending it to someone that will take good care of it   

I need to make a correction to my post above re: the symbols and numbers at the bottom of the German hand stamp dials.  The Arabic numerals refer to postal stations, not device numbers according to my correspondent at the Germany & Colonies Philatelic Society.  The Roman numeral's use/significance in the machine canceling device is unknown at this time. 

Don StampHinger

Now I have to check my postmarks from that period to. Thanks a lot for the research. 👍

A page of German cancels from the 3rd Reich period.  This page includes, in my opinion, my most interesting and controversial cancel.  It is the Heidelberg bullseve on Sc. B291, the Volksturm issue of 1945.  Note the sequential numbers in the date and time line of the cancel. There are at least four possibilities that I can think of:   1: It is a genuine coincidental cancel, 2: It was a favor cancel for a local collector, 3. It was applied by a postal clerk to several stamps with the objective of selling them at profit, 4: It was applied by a U.S. soldier-collector who looted a post office and carried off a canceling device and some stamps.  There may be other possibilities that I have not thought of.  I am interested in opinions on this cancel.

Don StampHinger

Greenland, SDR STRØMFJORD 1978



Michel GL 75
Scott GL 71
Yvert et Tellier GL 62
Stanley Gibbons GL 69
AFA number GL 75
Unificato GL 62

Mauritius
Post mark MAHEBOURG (8 may 1911) on the eastside of the main island. 


Michel MU 132
Scott MU 138
Yvert et Tellier MU 132
Stanley Gibbons MU 182

A nice small collection, they are mostly heads without slogans from machine cancellations and a couple of partial slogans 

However on the 4th row, the stamp on the right with the London IS cancel, could you take a larger image of that please and post it on the GB postmarks thread because Alan does not have a copy of that one in his database.

Postmarks around the world, this time from Austria