That's a lovely strike you have there. I wonder, of the few that are in existence, how many are as good (and full) as this one?
You must be delighted.
A note of caution. The quantity recorded is not the quantity in existence.
Note that the vast majority of collectors do not take note of postmarks, (which upsets us postmark collectors no end). However because of this who knows how many unrecorded postmarks lie in collections from beginners,through those in long term storage through to accumulations in the hands of hoarders and dealers. The factor is not how many are known,but how many unknown exist? A quantity recorded as low as this one is unlikely to have a vast unknown quantity "out there", but once you get to the 100+ (still very scarce) it is not unreasonable to imagine 1000+ unknown,or even more.
Malcolm
103 / V is rated RR in my Freeman and White. You would go a long way to find a better strike, though.
The best references for Victorian cancels are:
J R W Purves:
Victoria: The Butterfly postmarks 1949
Victoria: The second type obliterators 'Barred Ovals' 1949
Victoria: The Travelling Post Offices and their markings 1955, 2nd edition 1979
Victoria: The Barred Numeral cancellations 1963
Victoria: The Butterfly and Barred Oval Cancellations 1965
J R W Purves with D G Davies and G R Linfield
The Cancellations of Melbourne 1980
Freeman and White
The Numeral Cancellations of Victoria
Wood, Webster and Watson
The Post Offices and Hand-held Datestamps of Victoria (2 volumes)
The above two volumes covered the letters a - g and were not cotinued following Webster's death. David Wood, via his firm Premier Postal maintains a subscription service to keep up-to-date with all Victorian cancels, essentially an online version of the above books plus the unpublished work for the offices beginning with letter after 'G'.
https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country=
While Purves' books are dated (he died in 1979), is books remain useful and readable. Have a look at www.abebooks.com or www.bookfinder.com if you want some of his books. I can help you locate them, in need.
Recently, the issue of TPOs has been researched again, and Purves' work expanded upon with an excelent book by Les Molnar and John Waugh. You can get the book "Victoria - The Travelling Post Offices 1865-1932" direct from Les (he is in Canada) on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Victoria-The-Travelling-Post-Offices-1865-1932-New-Publication-/182055538697?hash=item2a635b1009:g:WFYAAOSwu4BV5QBn
or from the Royal P{hilatelic Society of Victoria if you are in Oz.
While searching for information about a postmark on a stamp from Victoria, Australia, I came across this great page. It turns out that the postmark on my stamp is from either ECHUCA, Victoria. It has a rarity factor of RRRR which means there are only 4-12 copies recorded.
http://stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=15930&p=588618#p588618
I edited this post to remove Belvoir as a possible postmark. I misread the web page, Numeral 103 for Belvoir is within a butterfly cancel not a barred oval cancel.
re: Great Reference for Australian States Postmarks
That's a lovely strike you have there. I wonder, of the few that are in existence, how many are as good (and full) as this one?
You must be delighted.
re: Great Reference for Australian States Postmarks
A note of caution. The quantity recorded is not the quantity in existence.
Note that the vast majority of collectors do not take note of postmarks, (which upsets us postmark collectors no end). However because of this who knows how many unrecorded postmarks lie in collections from beginners,through those in long term storage through to accumulations in the hands of hoarders and dealers. The factor is not how many are known,but how many unknown exist? A quantity recorded as low as this one is unlikely to have a vast unknown quantity "out there", but once you get to the 100+ (still very scarce) it is not unreasonable to imagine 1000+ unknown,or even more.
Malcolm
re: Great Reference for Australian States Postmarks
103 / V is rated RR in my Freeman and White. You would go a long way to find a better strike, though.
The best references for Victorian cancels are:
J R W Purves:
Victoria: The Butterfly postmarks 1949
Victoria: The second type obliterators 'Barred Ovals' 1949
Victoria: The Travelling Post Offices and their markings 1955, 2nd edition 1979
Victoria: The Barred Numeral cancellations 1963
Victoria: The Butterfly and Barred Oval Cancellations 1965
J R W Purves with D G Davies and G R Linfield
The Cancellations of Melbourne 1980
Freeman and White
The Numeral Cancellations of Victoria
Wood, Webster and Watson
The Post Offices and Hand-held Datestamps of Victoria (2 volumes)
The above two volumes covered the letters a - g and were not cotinued following Webster's death. David Wood, via his firm Premier Postal maintains a subscription service to keep up-to-date with all Victorian cancels, essentially an online version of the above books plus the unpublished work for the offices beginning with letter after 'G'.
https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country=
While Purves' books are dated (he died in 1979), is books remain useful and readable. Have a look at www.abebooks.com or www.bookfinder.com if you want some of his books. I can help you locate them, in need.
Recently, the issue of TPOs has been researched again, and Purves' work expanded upon with an excelent book by Les Molnar and John Waugh. You can get the book "Victoria - The Travelling Post Offices 1865-1932" direct from Les (he is in Canada) on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Victoria-The-Travelling-Post-Offices-1865-1932-New-Publication-/182055538697?hash=item2a635b1009:g:WFYAAOSwu4BV5QBn
or from the Royal P{hilatelic Society of Victoria if you are in Oz.