Postmark
This article is about the postal marking. For the direct mail company see Postmark (company). For the e-mail company see Postmark.net (company)  |
An example of a postmark |
A
postmark is a
postal marking made on a
letter,
package,
postcard or the like indicating the (more or less precise) date and time that the item was delivered into the care of the postal service. Modern postmarks are often applied simultaneously with the
cancellation or "killer" that marks the
postage stamp(s) as having been used (though in some circumstances there may be a postmark without a killer, and sometimes the postmark and killer form a continuous design), and the two terms are often used interchangeably, if incorrectly. Postmarks may be applied by hand or by machines, using methods such as
rollers or
inkjets, while
digital postmarks are a recent innovation. The
local post Hawai'i Post had a rubber-stamp postmark parts of which were hand-painted.[
1] At
Hidaway Island,
Vanuatu, the Underwater Post Office has an
embossed postmark.[
2]
The date of the postmark can be quite important. In the United States, the
Internal Revenue Service will still consider
income tax returns as filed on time though it receives them late if they are postmarked on time, and this date (with, perhaps, other
proofs of mailing), may have significance as regards legal filings and proofs of service (though in this case the date may viewed as "on time" if the date of the postmark is no more than one day after the date service is supposed to have been made).[
3] Entries into
sweepstakes and contests, and juried
art exhibitions, may likewise have a "postmark deadline," and in at least one case it might have significance regarding the date of class withdrawal.[
4]
There are some examples of "faked covers" produced by philatelic forgers, most usually in order to increase their value, in which the postmark has been altered in some way; for example, by changing the date.[
5]
The "
electronic postmark" was named by drawing a parallel with the regular postmark.
The first postmark (called the "Bishop Mark") was introduced by English
Postmaster General Henry Bishop in
1661 and showed only the day and month of mailing in order to prevent the delay of the mail by carriers.[
6] In the
19th century and early
1900s it was common for letters to receive multiple postmarks indicating the time, date, and location of each post office delivering or transporting the letter, and this is still occasionally true, though to a lesser extent (see "
backstamp"). While almost every contemporary postmark includes a location as well as a date, in
2004 New Zealand Post announced plants to eliminate the location on their postmarks and include only the date; however, information about this can be determined by a three-number code on the postmarks.[
7]
Different types of postmarks include
railway post offices ("RPOs") and maritime (on-board ship) postmarks. Postmarks on
naval vessels during sensitive operations in
wartime are sometimes "
clean," showing less information than normally to prevent route of travel or other details from falling into enemy hands. Similar to this is the "censored postmark," overprinted with a black obliteration of the time and place of mailing for similar reasons.[
8]
Hawai'i post once had a
surfboard mail postmark, for covers that traveled by surfboard.[
9]
A colour postmark is on the United States Postal Service-issued collectible envelope commemorating the
2004 inauguration of
George W. Bush.
While postmarks are applied almost universally by or under the authority of the official postal department, service, or authority [in the
United States it is possible to receive a permit to apply your own postmark, called a
Mailer's Permit Postmark], it is at least theoretically possible that under certain conditions specified by the
private express statutes in the
United States, a privately-carried letter may be cancelled with a private postmark. Unofficial entities that issue
artistamps may use postmark-like markings as well.
Much of the published work on postmarks covers postmarks from before
1900. (This is perhaps because in the
United States so-called
fancy cancels were prevalent in this period, with the cancelling device often hand-cut from
cork by the
postmaster in elaborate shapes such as flags, stars or shapes that were seasonally-appropriate such as turkeys for
Thanksgiving). Much work in studying postmarks is needed for 1900 and later.
In
Great Britain the first postmark employed for the cancellation of the then new
postage stamps was the
Maltese Cross, so named because of its shape and appearance. This was used in conjunction with a date stamp which was applied, usually to the rear of the letter, which denoted the date of posting.
Fewer postmarks are used now than previously, with the advent of
meter labels, which indicate the precise date and time of acceptance at the
post office, some types of
computer vended postage, and
computerized postage people can print off their own
PCs (called in the
United States PC Postage, these services were offered by such companies as
Stamps.com and Neopost, Inc.). These indica do not need to be postmarked, though occasionally they are redundantly, and inadvertently (or for whatever other reason).
When the first universal postal system was started in the
United Kingdom with its
Penny Black, the postmark used red ink for contrast. This was not successful, and the stamp was changed to non-black colours so that the postmark could use black ink.
|
An example of a digital postmark |
In
2004 the
United States Postal Service announced plans to introduce first day digital color postmarks to be used to cancel some first day covers for commemorative stamps in
2005 and this practice has continued into 2006.[
10]
Singapore Post offers a "postmark advertising" service which, strictly speaking, applies to the "killer" rather than the postmark.[
11]
A special or rare postmark can substantially add to the value of a stamp. (In addition to everyday postmarks there are postmarks indicating the
first day of issue of a particular stamp and
pictorial cancellations commemorating local events, anniversaries, and the like and
slogan postmarks which advertise and event or pass information to the public. [There has been a recent change to the term "pictorial postmarks" rather than "pictorial cancellations" by the USPS.])
Postmark Africa is a programme on the
BBC World Service.
A
datestamp is a type of postmark.
The Postmark Award is given to outstanding employees of
Canada Post.
A postmark should not be confused with the
killer which are lines, bars, etc. used to cancel a postage stamp. Neither should a postmark be confused with
overprints generally, or
pre-cancels (stamps that have been cancelled before the
envelope or package to which they are affixed is submitted or deposited for acceptance into the
mailstream, they most commonly have taken the form of a pre-printed
city name on the stamp) specifically, which generally do not indicate a date.
Flight
cachets, more or less elaborate rubber-stamps on an envelope indicating on which flight (typically a
first flight) a
cover has traveled via
air mail, are in addition to the postmark and are not postmarks either.
Source: "Collecting those strange Tongan stamps — on cover," in
Scott Stamp Monthly (August
2002)
*
World postmark primer: how to decipher dates*
Geographic North Pole Postmark*
A Mystery Postmark*
London 2012 - New postmark kicks off 2012 day in London (backing
London's bid to host
2012 Olympics)
*
Specialty Holiday Postmarks Offered by the United States Postal Service*Museum
**
Post Mark Museum and Research Library*Precancels
**
The ABCs of Precancel collecting
