7 Dead Letter Office Datestamp

Dead Letter Office Page

Type 7 Two concentric ovals 39.5 x 26 mm and 30.5 x 16.5 mm respectively, with between the ovals 'DEAD LETTER OFFICE' round the top, 'BRISBANE' round the foot and a stop each side. Across the centre within the inner oval, in one line, are the day, month in three letters, and the year in full. The only two dated examples seen are dated March 1904 (struck in blue) and June 1911 (struck in carmine) as well as an undated partial example struck in blue. Rated 5R. Because only three have ever been seen - seven years apart - it is assumed that this was an emergency usage of a handstamp normally used for other purposes than backstamping mail

Brisbane Dead Letter Office datestamp type 7 (from Campbell)

1911

Brisbane Dead Letter Office datestamp type 7 rated 5R. Dated 7 June 1911. Seen in the Queensland Stamp Collecting Facebook Group. It may or may not be slightly different. Hard to tell

Undated

A partial Brisbane Dead Letter Office datestamp type 7 in blue rated 5R. Courtesy of Dave Elsmore

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Brisbane Dead Letter Office article by Campbell. Philately from Australia September 1986, pp. 58-59

BRISBANE DEAD LETTER OFFICE

By H. M. CAMPBELL, R.D.P., F.R.P.S.L..

When I wrote the article on the Brisbane Dead Letter Office which appeared in the March issue, I had hoped that it would be up to date at least for a little while. It was not to be, however, as even before the article appeared, I had bought a cover at one of Gary Watson's auctions which shows a previously unrecorded Dead Letter Office mark. The cover was sent from Edinburgh, Scotland to the G.P.O., Brisbane, was sent on to Dunwich, then to Gympie, and again back to the G.P.O.; at one point the letter had been opened by a gentleman of the same name as the addressee, who noted

that it was not for him, and the cover was secured again with two "Found Open and Officially Sealed" labels. On the reverse is an oval mark, 39 x 26mm, with an inner oval 30%½ x 17mm, and between the ovals 'DEAD LETTER OFFICE' round the top, 'BRISBANE' at the foot, and stops at each side; in the centre is the date in one line, with the month in three letters and the year in full (-3 MAR. 1904). It is struck in blue. As the date is within the known usage period for my Type 4, and no other examples of the new mark are known, I would say that this implement was normally used for other duties in the Dead Letter Office, and for some reason, perhaps some emergency, was used for stamping this cover instead of Type 4. Let us call it Type 6. There are one or two things in the article which need correcting. On page 7, the last word in the third-last line should read 'later', not 'letter'. Something went wrong with the captions for the illustrations at the bottom of page 8: 'Type 2' should be Type 1', 'Type I' should be 'Type 3', and 'Type 3' should be 'Type 2'.

In the first paragraph on page 9, I give the impression that Brisbane's 'NOT KNOWN BY/LETTER CARRIERS' was superseded by the oval UNCLAIMED/BRISBANE'. This, however, is misleading, as the former remained in contemporaneous use. I have an 1899 postcard from England with both, and a 1909 postcard from New Zealand with the 'NOT KNOWN... marking.