The
post offices in Nord.
To
begin, I shall explain the administrative organization of France.
This
country is divided in
1)
Regions (Departments); which in turn are divided into
2)
Districts; and further subdivided into
3)
Cities, towns and villages.
"NORD"
is one of the
many Departments of France. The chief city in NORD
is LILLE.
From
a postal history
point of view, Nord is one of the most important Departments. Its geographic
location being near Belgium, the North Sea
and the U.K. made that the Post Office progress very quickly.
History.
From
the
birth of the postage stamp to mid-January 1849 , the Post used a great
variety of postmarks to cancel stamps. Starting about the middle of
January, 1849 the first anonymous (dumb) grill lozenge reached most
post offices and continued in use for about 3 years.
 (Coll
part.) |
On
Jan 12
1849, the post office of CASSEL did not use the grill cancellation
but instead used its date stamp. |
 (Coll
part.) |
| From
mid January 1849
to December 31 1851, every post
offices in France used the grill lozenge to cancel postage stamps. |
Late
in 1851,
the
Administration decided to update its list of post offices and decided
to change means of cancelling.The change was planned for January
1st, 1852. But due to manufacturing delay, the post offices used there
new " Small
Figures "cancels
(In French "Petits Chiffres") about the second middle of january
1852.This cancel consisted of a lozenge-shape of dots in the
center of which was the number of the post office in the new list of
post offices (ancestor of the zip code).The post offices already
existing in 1851 were given a number in a alphabetical
order.The
post offices created after 1851 were given number in
a
chronological order.
After
10 years, a new
alphabetic list was made in December
1862.On
this
occasion, a new cancelation was born:
the Large Figures(in
French "Gros
Chiffres"). The post offices already existing in 1862 were assigned a
number in a
alphabetical order.The post offices created after 1862 were
given number in a chronological order.
The
postal authorities
asked to use the new type of lozenge
from January 1, 1863.But some post offices used it before, in the end
of
1862.
The
Administration also
asked to exchange their small figures following
the new 1862 list, but this order was respected by only a few post
offices.These numeral cancels could be used in reinforcement or if the
large
numerals would be damaged or lost. These cancellations are called Small
Figures of the Large Figures (in French "Petits Chiffres des Gros
Chiffres").
On
the other hand, from
1871 (after the French-Prussian war) and the
annexation by Prussia of a part of the eastern departments, the numbers
of the annexed post offices were redistributed in offices recently
created in the rest of the French territory.
In
several post offices
we can notice Large Figures numerals which have
not the same shape that the original copy. These cancels are
not locally
manufactured.These
stamps were cast iron and could not be repaired locally.They were
supplied by the Equipment Bureau in Paris at the request of post
offices (to replace a damaged stamp or to have one of
it more).The
Equipment Bureau had at least one replacement Large Figures
handstamp
in
stock. But several times the reserve handstamp had already
been
sent
to the post office which asked for it and had not been replaced. It was
thus necessary to appeal to a manufacturer (in contract with the Post
Office).There was several manufacturers which worked for the Post
Office.
From a
manufacturer to the other one, it could have differences in the
handstamps supplied to the Post office. The Large Figures cancels which
have different shape of figures are called "remade" ("Refait" en
French).
The
French numerals
period ended in March 28, 1876, but some post
offices used them after to March 30 from April 5,1876.
The regular ink for these cancellation is black. However, we can find
green, blue en red ink.
In Nord, the green numerals cancels are unknown.
We can very rarely find blue and red Small Figures cancels. The blue
strikes of Large Figures cancels can be met more frequently. Red
strikes are rare. Concerning Small Figures of the Large Figures colored
strikes are extremly rare.
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