Precancels of Great Britain
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On 13th February 1880 the firms of William Dawson & Sons together with W. H. Smith & Son were issued with the obliterators DS over F and SS over F respectively.
They were each done in two sizes, the largest, about an inch (26mm) wide being by far the commonest, with the smaller being only 5/8 inch (16mm) wide.
The 'F' is believed to stand for 'Foreign'.
William Dawson & Sons (Established 1809) were wholesale, export, and retail booksellers, news vendor and stationers at 74, Cannon-street, London - Established 1809.
For comparison of sizes, here are two examples of the W. H. Smith & Son precancels on their newspaper wrappers:
It appears that William Dawson & Sons rarely or never used Newspaper Wrappers. Certainly the extensive list given at StampDomain does not list them.
Update: I have been shown a wrapper by Michel Letaillieur of a halfpenny William Dawson & Sons wrapper dated 15 October 1899 with a Milled-Edge precancel Type 4a code 5.
I have only ever seen this one example of the small type, the rest are the large type of DS over F, and then only on loose stamps,
most of which have a William Dawson & Sons perfin (more on that later too).
Below are examples of the stamps I have seen this precancel used on:
1½d, 2d, 3d, 4d, 5d, 6d, 8d, 9d, 1s and 2s6d. It is rare on values below 1½d, or above 2s6d.
The 2s brown image is courtesy of Michael Driver. I have also seen it on the 2s blue.
The halfpenny green is courtesy of David (huggins3215 on ebay).
On 13th May 1890 William Dawson & Sons were issued with a new obliterator shown below.
The first example of this I saw was on the 1884 2/6d lilac with a "D.S." perfin.
This is shown below courtesy of Garry MacShane:
My example on the 3d looks rather unconvincing, but the 2d, 4d and 1s look better.
Stationery:
Interestingly NONE
| Small 'DS/F' on loose pre-1884-issue stamps | |||||
| Denom. | Note | Plate | Qty. | Perfinned | Approx. Date Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1d | Venetian red | 1 | 1 | 1/1/80 to 12/7/81 | |
| Large 'DS/F' on loose pre-1884-issue stamps | |||||
| Denom. | Note | Plate | Qty. | Perfinned | Approx. Date Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1d | lilac Die II | 2 | 1 | 13/12/81 to 1/1/02 | |
| 1½d | brown | 2 | 2 | 14/10/80 to 1/4/84 | |
| 2d | rose | 1 | 0 | 15/12/80 to 1/4/84 | |
| 3d | rose, spray | 20 | 2 | 2 | 29/11/78 to 15/7/80 |
| 3d | rose | 21 | 2 | 2 | 15/7/80 to 1/1/83 |
| 3d on 3d | purple | 21 | 2 | 1 | 1/1/83 to 1/4/84 |
| 4d | brown, garter | 17 | 2 | 2 | 15/8/80 to 8/12/80 |
| 4d | brown, crown | 18 | 2 | 1 | 15/8/82 to 1/4/84 |
| 5d | indigo | 3 | 1 | 15/8/82 to 1/4/84 | |
| 6d | crown | 17 | 2 | 2 | 1/1/81 to 1/1/83 |
| 6d | crown | 18 | 1 | 1 | 1/1/81 to 1/1/83 |
| 6d on 6d | lilac | 18 | 4 | 3 | 1/1/83 to 1/4/84 |
| 8d | orange | 1 | 1* | 1 | 11/9/76 to 10/1/81 |
| 1s | brown, spray | 13 | 1 | 1 | 14/10/80 to 24/5/81 |
| 1s | crown wmk | 14 | 1 | 1 | 21/10/81 to 1/4/84 |
| 2s | brown, spray | 1 | 2* | 2 | 27/2/80 to ?/?/1880 |
* I do not have examples of the 8d or 2/- values, but have only seen images.
It seemed worth mentioning them though. The 2/- blue was in use for
about 2 weeks after the start of DSF precancel use, so they may exist.
| Large 'DS/F' on loose 1884-issue stamps | ||||
| Denom. | Colour | Qty. | Perfinned | Approx. Date Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1½d | lilac | 3 | 3 | 1/4/84 to 1/1/87 |
| 2d | lilac | 4 | 1 | 1/4/84 to 1/1/87 |
| 2½d | lilac | 1 | 0 | 1/4/84 to 1/1/87 |
| 3d | lilac | 3 | 0 | 1/4/84 to 1/1/87 |
| 4d | green | 4 | 3 | 1/4/84 to 1/1/87 |
| 5d | green | 4 | 0 | 1/4/84 to 1/1/87 |
| 6d | green | 3 | 2 | 1/8/83 to 1/1/87 |
| 9d | green | 1 | 0 | 1/8/83 to 1/1/87 |
| 1s | green | 2 | 2 | 1/4/84 to 1/1/87 |
| 2s6d | lilac | 2 | 2 | 1/1/84 to 5/4/1902 |
| Large 'DS/F' on loose 1887 'Jubilee' stamps | ||||
| Denom. | Colour | Qty. | Perfinned | Approx. Date Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1½d | purple & green | 1 | 1 | 1/1/87 to 25/3/1902 |
| 2d | green & red | 2 | 2 | 1/1/87 to 25/3/1902 |
| 3d | purple on yellow | 1 | 1 | 1/1/87 to 20/3/1902 |
| 4d | green & brown | 1 | 1 | 1/1/87 to 25/3/1902 |
| 6d | purple on rose | 1 | 1 | 1/1/87 to 25/3/1902 |
| 9d | purple and blue | 2 | 2 | 1/1/87 to 7/4/1902 |
| 1s | green | 7 | 7 | 1/1/87 to 11/7/1900 |
This gives a date range of July 1880 until 1887 or beyond.
| 1890 type DS over F on loose 1887 'Jubilee' stamps | ||||
| Denom. | Colour | Qty. | Perfinned | Approx. Date Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2d | green and red | 1 | 1 | 1/1/87 to 20/3/1902 |
| 3d | purple on yellow | 1 | 1 | 1/1/87 to 20/3/1902 |
| 4d | green & brown | 1 | 1 | 1/1/87 to 27/3/1902 |
| 1s | green | 5 | 5 | 1/1/87 to 11/7/1900 |
| 2s6d | lilac | 6 | 6 | 1/1/84 to 5/4/1902 |
According to the Perfin Society William Dawson & Sons perfins are also known used with 'Milled Edge' Precancels, but I have not yet seen any.
Last updated 11th. September 2021
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