Egypt classic cancels 02 - General cancels T6 - T12

In this second part of eary Egypt cancels, I continue in the year 1877.
Egypt's chief postmaster, and founder of the Egypt postal system, Giacomo Muzzi, resigned in 1876.

He was succeeded by Alfred Caillard - of French origine - in 1877, and under his supervison, Egypt's handstamps changed from Italian to French.

Type VI

Type VI

Type VII

In 1878, a duplex cancel was introduced, similar to cancels used in the British Empire.
These duplex cancels had a regular cancel in French and Arabic, and next to it, a mute cancel with the letter A. This cancel type was only used in Alexandria.

Type VII - duplex cancel Alexandria

Type VIII

In 1880, Caillard was succeeded by Walter Halton Pasha, who introduced next to French, also the English names on the cancels.
This type, has the English or French name on top of the cancel, and the Arabic name at the bottom.
see also Type XII, where the two languages changed place, giving preference to the Arabic name.

Type VIII

Type VIII pair

Type IX

Also in 1880, a hand cancel with bars was introduced.
For this type, there are several subtypes. The inner ring has bars on both sides, both up and down. There are variations with only bars in the top part, or only on the bottom part.

The number of bars vary as well. Going from 3 bars, up to 11.
Furthermore, some bars  are attached to the inner circle, other cancels have bars that are not attached.

Type IX.1

Type IX.6

Because of the similar design with swiss cancels that were in use at the same time, this type is also called the 'Swiss type'.

Type IX 5 bars and 6 bars

Type IX 7 bars and 8 bars

Type X

The 10th type came out in 1882, and is sought because of its limited use (less then 40 known locations), mainly in the north of Egypt, and some of them in Sudan.
Specific for this type of hand cancel, is the star and crescent under the city name.

Type X - star and crescent

The last known use of this cancel type is 1919.

Type XI

Similar to type X, but now with only a star, is this type XI.

This cancel type was in use between 1907 and 1923.

Type XII

The last type, type XII, is similar to type VIII.
Where in type VIII, the French or English name is on top of the cancel, and the Arabic name on the lower part, the Type XII stamps have the Arabic on top, and the 'foreign' language at the bottom of the cancel.

Type XII - Arabic name on top

to be continued...

Egypt classic cancels 01 - General cancels T1 - T5

When it comes to cancels on stamps of Egypt, the work of R. Seymour Blomfield is the basic catalog for all collectors.

For all cancels in the 'classic era', roughly from 1860 - till the first World War, an extended description is given for regular (postal use) cancels and special cancels.
In this first post, I will start with some of the 12 basic types - regular cancels.

Types I to V have one thing in common, they all have the Italian name of Egypt (Egiziane) on the cancel.
Often however, the key text on the upper part of the cancel, is incomplete or missing.

In this case, the name of the month - also in Italian - can help determinate wheter the cancel is one of the first 5 types or not.

gennaio	January	luglio	July
febbraio	February	agosto	August
marzo	March	settembre	September
aprile	April	ottobre	October
maggio	May	novembre	November
giugno	June	dicembre	December

Type I and II

In 1865 Type I was introduced. All cancels have "Poste Vice-Reali Egiziane"

Type I

From 1867, Type II was also used, here we find : "Regi Poste Egiziane" - Regi means 'Royal'

Type II

Type III

With the introduction of the 3rd type, both Type I and II were used no longer.
Type III has the text : "V.R. Poste Egiziane" - V.R. stands for Vice Reali (Vice-Regal)

Type III

Type III cancel on 1 Piastre - 28 Jan 1875

Type IV

In 1873, a 4th cancel type was introduced, along the remaining Type III.
This time, the text is "Poste Khedeuie Egiziane" - Khedivial Post.
This type comes with a single or a double outter ring.

Type IV - single ring

Type V

The last type with Italian writings, is type V.
The main text here is (only) "Poste Egiziane". It was issued in around March 1873, till June 1880 - next to types III and IV.

Type V

Type V on 5 paras - 21 Feb 1877

Important for this type, is that one of the subtypes (Type V.4) has Arabic text in the middle of the cancel.
The date therefore is in Arabic and not in Latin script.
Those cancels were only used in upper Egypt and the Sudan area. All of those cancels have identical sizes (no matter the amount of text that needed to fit in).

to be continued...

French cancels - 01 n Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées)

see also: https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-01-c-paris-numbered.html

Variations on the star itself:

mute star (no number)

mute star

mute star cropped

cropped mute star

mute start blank center 

blank center

If you like to collect the numbered stars, there are various ways to do so.
You can search for all numbers, regardless on which stamp they occur, or you can look for each stamp (between nr. 1 to 60) to find 40 different cancels each time.
I'm sure, the last option will get you a lifetime achievement award, as you'll be looking for 2400 stamps.

The page I made (see link) has 6 pages:

page 1 is a list of each of the 40 offices
page 2 is an album page that can be used for each of the 40 star cancels
(this page can be copied many times, if you like to collect the cancels on different stamps)
page 3/4/5/6 are pages where you can put all variations of the star cancels.

I also added a mute start cancel, a cropped mute cancel, and an empty center star cancel.

link to the pdf-file

French cancels - 01 m Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées)

Some variations on the étoile 3:

see also https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-01-c-paris-numbered.html

For the star nr. 3, there are also few variations.

étoile 3 - normal version

In the first variation, the dot on top of the 3 is missing.

étoile 3 - plein

The second variation is similar to the first one, but the horizontal line in the middle of the 3 is extended and connected with the dot in front of it. As if an extra dot is placed in front of the 3.
This variation is called the 'parasite 3'.

étoile 3 'parasite'

Two more variations on the 3-star exist.
For those 2, an improvised 3 cancel was used. The font is different than the one used before.
The handstamp was however not very strong made, or used the wrong way, as not only this improvised cancel, but also a worn out - version of this cancel can be found.

étoile 3 - improvisé (1st state)

étoile 3 - improvisé (2nd state)

Below, the 'original' étoile 3 cancel.

to be continued...

French cancels - 01 l Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées) - variations 5

For this post, I present the last (so far) known variations on the star cancels.
 

Variations on the 23:

For this specific cancel all 6 points of the cancel are gone, as if the cancel started to melt.
Incomplete cancels (on the stamp alone) can create the illusion of an incomplete cancel.
Therefore only clear cancels or cancels on letters can tell if the 23 is a normal cancel or a truncated one.

étoile 23 tronquée (truncated)

Variations on the 28:

This variation is clearly due to the use of a worn out  hand cancel.
The degeneration of the cancels made the 28 look like a 20 in the end...

normal 28 - cancel

28 second state

28 third (laste) stage

For cancels in this last stage, some expertise is needed.
Lack of ink, or soft cancels can create a 28 in this third state. Not even mentioning the removal of the centre by fraud.

to be continued ...

French cancels - 01 k Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées) - variations 4

More variations on the French star cancels :

Variations on the 15:

étoile 15 - grand logement

Variations on the 16:

étoile 16 accidentée

Variations on the 18:

étoile 18 cassée

étoile 18 - grand logement

to be continued...

French cancels - 01 j Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées) - variations 3

More variations on the french star cancels:

étoile chiffrée 7 in pair

For this cancel type, we do not find damaged or deformed numbers, but the variations are within the 7 itself.
There are 3 known versions of the 7.

The 7 can be 6.5 mm high, 5.5 mm or even 5 mm.

normal 7 - 6.5 mm

Smaller version of 5.5 mm:

average 7 - 7 moyenne - 5.5 mm

And the smallest version is only 5 mm high:

small 7 - 7 petite - 5 mm

For the 6 and the 9 star cancels, the variations are there to make the difference between both numbers.
see : https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/03/french-cancels-01-g-paris-numbered.html

to be continued...

French cancels - 01 i Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées) - variations 2

The variations continue...

Variations on the 4:

Also on the 4 cancel, some variations are known :

étoile 4 - normal

Since the cancels were often used, some damage to them is inevitable.
A worn out cancel is know as 4-brisé (broken 4) :

(broken4) 4 brisé

Similar to the 1 'grand logement'  (large housing), the 4 has a also such a version:

étoile 4 - grand logement

Probably, an empty star cancel was prepared to serve as a 4 cancel.
The empty space in the middle was large enough to add two digit numbers if necessary.
For the 1 and 4 therefore there was too much space then needed, resulting in a large central space.

Another option to make a 'new' 4-cancel, was to alter an existing cancel.
A 24-star cancel was used, of which the 2 was removed and the dots were more or less restored.
It is called ex-24.

étoile 4 - ex-24

How about the vartiations on the 5:

The 'normal' 5 has a curly upper line, and a dot in the centre above it.

étoile 5 - normal

Some 5's are slightly deformed.
Those are called the broken 5's (5-cassé)

In some cancels, the upper line is flattened, and the dot in the centre above it, is missing.
This cancel is called a ' 5 crochu' (hooked 5) - a flattened 5 would be more accurate in my opion.

Finally, similar to the 1 and 4 'grand logement' also a 5 grand logement exists.

5 grand logement

Note the two dots (and not 3) left and right of the number, on the central horizontal line. 

to be continued...

French cancels - 01 h Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées) - variations 1

The variations:

Variations on the 1

In the image below, we see a 'normal' version of the 'étoile chiffrée 1'.
The 1 starts with a short line, not touching the dot in front of it.

étoile chiffrée 1 - normal

Two étoiles 1 : with normal '1'

There is a variation where the beginning of the 1, touches the dot in front.

Only 2 remaining 'free dots' in front of the 1, in stead of the 3 in the normal version.

Another variation is called the 'large housing' or "grand logement"
In this cancel we only find 2 dots left and right of the centre of the '1'.

étoile 1 'grand logement

Other 'variations' are more likely due to the wear of the stamp.
The incomplete "1" comes in different stages :

stage 1

stage 2

The examples above are not realy variations, but more like accidentially impartial cancels.
They are also called '1 accidenté'.
However, they were used in this condition before being replaced by a new 'complete' cancel.
Some expertise is needed, as not all imperfect 1's are real "1 accidentés"

Variations on the 2

For the étoile chiffrée 2, there is one variation described.
Also here, the variation is more likely to be caused by the use of a worn out cancel.

As the cancel was used, and copies of this type of cancel can be found, I added it to the list of variations.

étoile chiffrée 2 cassé

The 2 cassé (broken), shows a slightly deformed star and a broken nr 2.

to be continued...