Page last updated on: Sunday, 25 June, 2023.
 
This page is not specifically relevant to Gatehouse, but it is a convenient place to keep details of some of our stamp collections.
 
Philatelic Collections

Scottish "1844" Cancels
The Maltese Cross obliterator was withdrawn in 1844. All Post Offices in Scotland were allocated a unique number which was dictated by its alphabetic position in a list of post office names. Aberdeen was number 1, Aberfeldy was number 2 whist no.3 was Aberdour.
 
Scottish cancels consisted of a rectangle of horizontal lines with the post office number at its centre.
 
Irish post offices had a diamond-shaped form of horizontal lines in the background with the post office number in the centre.
 
England & Wales offices had an oval shape of horizontal lines with the post office number at its centre.
 
This allowed letter carriers to know where any item had been posted.
 
The list of post offices changed over time as new post offices were opened.
 
During the currency of the 1d red imperforates there were 412 post offices in Scotland.
 
This collection attempts to include one 1d red imperforate stamp with each of these 412 cancels.
 
So far there are 93 different examples in this collection.
 
Have a look at them here

 

Early Gatehouse Correspondence

Click on the date to see a .pdf summary of the letter and content. 
 
 
posted Gatehouse to Edinburgh : Wm Hannay to James Lock