Tristan from the Sea - Christmas Card ~2000

British flag with ship's figurehead, photo ~1946

handmade Christmas Card 1953, painted and written by Ann and Ron Harding (schoolmaster), inside with Horseshoe cachet - see below

 Potatoe patches

Cachet

Type                                               

Usage                                                   

Measures / est. value                                                  

Specifications / Comments

Type I     (Crabb)

C1          (Proud)

19 DEC 1908 / Whaler Canton -

13 DEC 1919 / Clan MacMillan

11 years

25 mm / diameter

2.200 £ (Proud)

4.000 £ (Stanley Gibbons / SG)

double ring, violet ink

TRISTAN DA CUNHA

Despite it’s long usage the type I handstamp is one of the rarest Tristan cachets

Type II    (Crabb)

C2          (Proud)

31 JY 1919 / HMS Yarmouth –

JAN 1934 / Ponape

15 years

33,5 mm 

350 £ (Proud)

425 £ (SG)

double ring, violet and black ink

Between the outer in inner ring:

*TRISTAN DA CUNHA*

In the middle:

SOUTH ATLANTIC)

Type III    (Crabb)

C3           (Proud)

JAN 1921 / unknown ship –

8 JAN 1932 / HMS Carlisle

11 years

28 mm 

300 £ (Proud and SG)

triple ring, black ink

between the 2 outer rings and the 3^rd ring:

TRISTAN DA CUNHA

divided with a cross

different letters and another form of the cross as Type V, VI, other diameter as Type VII

Type IV    (Crabb)

C4            (Proud)

25 FEB 1928 / Empress of France –

17 MY 1932 / Arizona Maru

4 years

39 mm 

Used red ink until 1931

Val. 550 £ (Proud)

black ink from 7 JAN 1931,

with exceptions – I have a black ink cancellation on cover transported with Baron Tweedsmouth 26 OC 1928

Val. 950 £ (Proud)

       850 £ (SG)

very scarce

triple ring, red & black ink

between the 2 outer rings and the 3^rd ring:

TRISTAN DA CUNHA

divided with a star

Rev. Partridge used the handstamp on board of Arizona Maru with endorsed his signature and date

Type IVa   (Crabb)

C4            (Proud)

Type IV and the bandeau.

First usage of both:

28 OCT 1928 / Baron Tweedsmouth –

15 MY 1929 / Halesius

7 months

39 mm 

Val. 2.500 £ (Proud)

       5.500 £ (SG)

very scarce

red ink

2 separate cachets, the “bandeau” used inside the type IV cachet – or separately

“bandeau” is part of a triple ring handstamp. Between the 2 outer rings and the 3^rd ring:

ISLAND OF

Type V     (Crabb)

C5            (Proud)

24 FEB 1929 / Duchess of Atholl –

24 AUG 1940

14 years

28 mm 

Val. 40 £ (Proud)

       35 £ (SG)

common

blue or black ink

normally used without endorsement

triple ring cachet, other letters than Type III (i.e. the “T”),

broken inner circle under “A” of Cunha

Type Va   (Crabb)

C6            (Proud)

15 MY 1929 / Hamala –

12 FB 1930 / Tymeric

9 months

28 mm 

Val. 2.500 £ (Proud)

       6.500 £ (SG)

scarcest Tristan cachet

violet ink

pictured is a proof of the handstamp with black ink (fig.1)

Part of “T” missing

Top of “C” missing

Top of “N” missing

The cachet is also known as an offset (inverted) – see Crabb’s Bible P. 196

uncacheted endorsed "Tristan da Cunha

28 MY 1933 -    

19 FEB 1934 

handwritten 

when Rev. Partridge left Tristan Type V had been taken away.

Rev. Wilde brought it back on the latter date 

Type VI    (Crabb)

C7          (Proud)                                       

11 AUG 1936 / Hamala – 8 MY 1946 / SAS Transvaal with a gap between

11 FEB 1942 – End WWII

10 years                                                    

28 mm

val. 50 £ (Proud)

      60 £ (SG)

rare

difference to Tpye VII:

smaller letters,

smaller size,

other diameter

difference to Type III:

compare the "A" and "T" typeface                                                                                                 

Type VII    (Crabb)

C8             (Proud)

1 FEB 1938 / Soumen Joutsen –

25 JAN 1949 MV Peqena.

Not used from March 1940 – 1 MY 1945

9 years

30 mm

val. 50 £ (Proud)

       22 £ (SG)

more common as Type VI

in some minor cases the date of departure is endorsed.

In contrast to the Crabb Bible the last day of usage was with the visit of MV Pequena (seen on cover with arrival datestamp Ireland 22 II 49)

Type VIII   (Crabb)

C9             (Proud)

provided by Allan Crawford

10 MY 1946 –

28 JAN 1949 / H.M.S.A.S. Transvaal

3 years

30 mm

val. 90 £ (Proud)

      90 £ (SG)

rare

difference to Type VII:

other letters,

wider “A” of Cunha,

other cross 

Type IX    (Crabb)

C10         (Proud)

supplied to Rev. Lawrence and first usage during the Tristan Venture 

29 FEB 1948 –

15 FEB 1950 / Pequena

2 years

- square cachet

val. 55 £ (SG)

common

- with endorsed handwritten date

rare

- dated cachet of 1 DEC 1949 (the only known date)

scarce

~250 £ (est.)

the only legitimate cachet to carry the Edinburgh Settlement name.

In minor cases a datestamp is imprinted in the space above “Edinburgh”

some sources change the Type No. with Type X

origin of Type X

Cachet "F"

A.B. Crawford’s private cachet with initials “A.B.C” used during WWII from 1943 – 1945

oval cachet

rare

Occurs on the reverse of the first Tristan newspaper “The Tristan Times” on the reverse with handwritten no. of the island newspaper.

Later used for postal purposes without the initials “A.B.C.”

Type X     (Crabb)

C11         (Proud)

Private cachet of A. Crawford during the war, first postally used

2 FE 1948 - 6 MR 1948 during Tristan Venture Expedition -scarce usage!

2nd period:

12 MR 1950 / Pequena –

21 JY 1951

With “month” in date

16 months

oval cachet

val. 45 £ (SG)

some sources change the Type No. with Type IX because of the first postal usage was a few days earlier than of Tye IX

Type X     (Crabb)

C11         (Proud)

Same as before, but date in numbered form

21–7–51   -

19–12–51

6 months

oval cachet

rare                                                       

Horseshoe cachet

cachet "K"

provided from the stamp dealer Victor Marsh pseud. H.Edgar Weston 1951.                      

Marsh prepared 1.000 covers with that postmark and sent them in a bulk to Tristan for remailing to England.

The Admin., Hugh Elliott returned the covers in a parcel. Marsh put some covers in GB letterboxes to get postal due stamps cancelled with a datestamp.

Later the handstamp was sent by Marsh to the Tristan schoolmaster Harding who used the cachet on private mail.

During the stay of Shackleton’s ship RYS Quest on Tristan and Gough Island

20 MY 1922 –

25 MY 1922

6 days

val. 750 £ (Proud)

scarce 

not a pure Tristan datestamp but used on Tristan da Cunha by the crew of the Quest.

The Quest was on her way home after Shackleton has died at 5^th JAN 1922 on South Georgia

boxed Cachet "E"

private cachet of A.B. Crawford

1948 - 20-3-1962 (HMS Protector)

Gough Island sub-Post Office datestamp most common is the date of 14 DE 1955                                                        

one line cachet above, only used on last day souvenir cards produced by Administrator Godfrey Harris after closing down of the sub post office on Gough Island - see page 260 "Crabb Bible" - scarce.

One line cachet below applied on some covers of 14-12-55, the date of the first mail of the Gough Island Expedition, common

2 line cachet - seldom seen on Gough mail -

scarce

Day over month & year     

Type A-D were destroyed by the Administrator Peter Wheeler when the island was evacuated in October 1961 after the eruption of the volcano. Wheeler threw all handstamps and the stock of stamps into the Atlantic to avoid misuse.

Type "B" was also used on 1-1-1952 for some FDCs - supposed, that FDCs with Type "B" cancellation were cancelled later until February 1952 by favour.

"True" FDCs seems to be struck with Type "A"

see "D"

rare

see "D"

rare

 occasional usage of "28"

30th JA 1962 and

26th MR 1962

official expedition cachet of the Royal Society Expedition

cachet of the Society Expedition period when TdC was evacuated (see "postal history" on next side) and no post office was working, no official datestamp was in use and no Tristan stamps were available.

Used on SAS Transvaal on 30th January 1962 (524 covers posted) and returned to Cape Town at 7th February 1962 (1st Expedtion mail) and

on HMS Protector (296 covers) at 20th March 1962 / 3rd Expedition mail.

5th March 1962

same as Type XI without the centre wording

very rare - only 85 covers cancelled

used during the Society Expedition period and only known on mail taken aboard MV Frances Repetto - most of the mail received the Paquebot postmark Cape Town dated 16th March 1962 upon arrival (2nd Expedition mail). 

Mainly commercial mail written by expedition members.

used during the Resettlement period until the first issue of stamps 12-4-1963

Cachet "V"

private cachet of Willie Repetto, used by Johnie Repetto as a member of the Resettlement Party

24 mm / diameter

rare - seldom seen

Resettlement cachet

Attention !!!

Private dealer Paquebot cachet used on visit of the QEII on World Cruise

26 mm / diameter

By exclusive agreement with Cunard Line stamp dealers had the right to deal with all aspects of mailing operations from the QEII at Tristan. Covers with that cachet had no connection to the Tristan postal system

Official / new one ring datestamp after Resettlement period

PO1

12-4-1963 (MV Boissevain) - 5-June 1990

Official / one ring datestamp

PO2

known period: 1-4-1982 to 1-11-1982

don't forget to collect this interesting canceller

33 mm / diameter

only in use during a short period ~1982

the handstamp was disliked and therefore only in use during a short period

A similar FDC datestamp was used only for the 1982 Diana's 21st Birthday (First Day of Issue on top / Tristan da Cunha below the date)

Paquebot datestamp

PQ1

in the last 3 years the year date inserted by hand (as seen on the scan)

Paquebot datestamp

PQ2

in use until 1992, in 1993 because of the missing "3" the last figure of the year was inserted by hand.

Last usage 1994 when HMS St. Helena visited TdC in February

Paquebot datestamp

PQ3

 1993- 04 - -7 (e.g.)

Paquebot datestamp

PQ4

06 FEB 2006 (e.g.)

datestamp of Tristan Post Office / Administration

known dates: 10-07-1995 and 17-05-1996

the usage had to be during usage of PO3

who can present a cover/document with that handstamp?

put on to order by the Tristan Post Office, retained by the Administration Office and may still be there

info provided by Ray L.

datestamp of Tristan Post Office

PO3

June 1990 - ?? - 2000-04-12 (e.g.)

datestamp of Tristan Post Office

PO4

datestamps of Tristan Post Office

PO5

FAKE handstamp "L"

(according an article written by Robin Taylor in the Chronicle No. 93)

34 mm / diameter

past June 1946

FAKE handstamp "U"

(in continuation of the numbering used by Robin Taylor in the Chronicle No. 93, P 5-8)

28 mm / diameter

used on cover with Cape Town Paquebot 10 FEB 1931

>> there was no known ship's visit since 17th March 1930

Fake cover with Fake handstamp "U". On eBay the cover was offered which seemed first to be a Type III cancellation. And the Paquebot Cape Town 10 FEB 1931 was very unusual, because the last known ship before left Tristan da Cunha 17th March 1930 (Ketch Monsunen). The letters on the handstamp look like the letters on the Type IV, but the diameter is 28 mm. In use 1930/31 were only Type III and V as similar handstamps - but these handstamps are not the handstamp of the pictured cover.  

Thanks to Ray Lloyd, Ron Burn and Robin Taylor for their help to solve this mystery!