Great Britain Philatelic Society

Picked up this cover as it intrigued me with a crown handstamp. It is from 1834 from Liverpool to London. It is 2 receiving marks on back, on from Liverpool on Dec 1st 1834 and London receiving mark on Dec 3, 1834.(I assume the C at the top means the central post office)

On the from there are 4 marks on the front, only the hand written "11" I understand which covers the rate for 210 miles.

1) I and not sure what the "2" over the "11' means?
2? The notation top left, which originally I thought was "11" or maybe "1sh 10 if the letter was a double which it could have been.
3) A fresh crown handstamp but I am not sure what this means

This Liverpool to London letter was mis-rated as a single at 11d, when it reached London it was re-evaluated as a double letter - the original charge was deleted and the change authorised by the inspector's crown mark (one of several types in use 1680-1840) and the double rate of 1s 10d added.

That makes sense, thanks.
Where can I find a reference for the Crown inspector marks. I looked in my books but I did not find any hand stamps like that crown?

Barrie Jay's London volume of the British County Catalogue series lists them. Incidentally the '2' over the original '11'd charge is just a squiggle cancelling the number. Hope that helps.

mcornes wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 12:23 am(I assume the C at the top means the central post office)

No, that is the date stamp code. See London Date Stamp Codes file at https://www.gbps.org.uk/information/dow ... ations.php

Winston,
thanks for that pointer, although it has brought me to a another level of confusion in trying to decipher what is in that book. It appears that this stamp is Fig 11 and has a single letter in this case 'C". When I look at the 1834 table I only see two letter options. I must admit to being rather confused in how to understand these tables.

I too read the London receiving date as 3 December 1834, in which case I would expect a date code of either the letter R or the letter S. So sorry, I can't explain why it has the date code C.

I think the 'C' is just an ID of the date-stamp itself, related to the counter position / PO clerk who used it. It's nothing to do with time.