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Have you ever seen a "diamond" cancel like this on a cover used in Great Britain?

The "diamond" mark was used in Universal cancelling machines as a control mark when an annual postal census was taken usually in October or November. This procedure started as early as 1923 and ceased in 1985. The single impression dies were fitted with a counting device and the marking was to indicate that the item had been counted.

The count was normally made of all posted traffic (posted at, received at, forwarded and any counter business), including foreign mail, for one week at a particular office providing a record of the number of items passing through the machine per hour or per day and giving a representative of average weekly postings for the Post Office.

The "diamond" also exists with a date-slug in from December 1996 at Croydon in a reserve machine for ordinary mail, not for the census. Sometimes it can be seen on FDCs that have actually gone through the mail.

The cancels were impressed on the back or the front of the letter. Sometimes covers received more than one "diamond" cancel.

The cancel has been found in red and at some offices the "diamond" was employed with either the wavy lines or the slogan in use at the time. The latest slogan that was found has been used in 1951 (but may have been used to at least 1966) while wavy lines were used to at least 1974. Most "diamond" cancels have equal length sides and approximate 90° corners. Some are narrow with smaller angles at the top and bottom.

The chosen week was not necessarily the same for each sorting office or for each shift in a particular office. The census was stopped because modern sorting machines have counters built in to count every single item.

As of now, the below shown markings could be found:

Type

Image

Inscription

Known used
from - until

Thumbnails
(click to enlarge)

Cover Description

Normal Census Cancel

Normal Cancel

Red Census Cancel

Red Cancel

Narrow Census Cancel

Narrow cancel

British Postal Census Cancels with wavy lines - various styles

Postal Census Cancel with wavy lines

Postal Census Cancel with wavy lines

Postal Census Cancel with wavy lines

Multiple Cancels

Cover with more than one "diamond" cancel.

Slogan Cancels

Slogan cancels have been found between 1937 to 1951 but probably continued to at least 1966

POST EARLY IN THE DAY

POST EARLY IN THE DAY

Victory slogan, 1945

Victory slogan, 1945

Slogan Cancel

Slogan Cancel

Muscular / Dystrophy / Week / OCTOBER 15th-22nd

Muscular / Dystrophy / Week / OCTOBER 15th-22nd ( probably 1966 )

STAGGER TO / HOLIDAY / FOR COMFORT

STAGGER TO / HOLIDAY / FOR COMFORT

CIVIL DEFENCE / JOIN NOW

CIVIL DEFENCE / JOIN NOW

RECEIVED FROM / H.M. SHIPS

RECEIVED FROM / H.M. SHIPS

Style used at Cardiff in 1962

Style used at Cardiff in 1962

1962


I am always interested in additional covers or information on usage dates or other / additional types of these Census Marking.