http://www.stampandcoin.co.uk APRIL 2016 67CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
triangular. His proposed innovation
was to use irregularly shaped stamps on
all internal letters and packets to help
native postal clerks of limited literacy
recognise incoming overseas mail with
its rectangular stamps when opening
unsorted sacks. In the event only the
distinctive triangulars were produced,the first in 1853. The reclining
figure on the stamp is an allegorical
representation of Hope. Her pose
is thought to derive from the figure
of Hispania on coins of the Roman
Emperor Hadrian, who was born in
Spain and who used the figure on
several of his coins.
The two stamps issued on 1
September of that year were an
imperforate 1d brick-red and an
imperforate 4d blue, both printed in
London on anchor watermarked paper,
in sheets of 240, with sixteen stamps
in eight rows, by Perkins, Bacon &
Co. They met the Colony’s postage
requirements at that time: 4d for a half
ounce letter; and 1d for a newspaper.
Early triangulars were obliterated with
a triangle of bars incorporating the
initials ‘CGH’. On 18 February, 1858
two new values were added, 6d and 1s.
The 6d paid for a half ounce letter to
Britain; the 1s for a letter to various
foreign countries.
On 15 September, 1860 the local
letter rate in Cape Town reduced to
1d, with a similar reduction coming
into effect in Port Elizabeth on 1 May,- Rates for overseas mail altered
on 1 April, 1863, increasing to 1s for
a letter to Great Britain if sent by mail
packet; and reducing to 4d if sent by
private vessels. The triangular stamps
were demonetized on 1 October, 1900;
but such was their renown that in 1953
South Africa issued two stamps (1d
and 4d) depicting the triangulars to
commemorate the centenary of the first
OF THE BULL ARRIVED 29 OF
NOVEMr AND DEPed THE 12 OF
DECr 1619. FOR BANTAM 10s.
CAPE MARCH LETTERS UNDER’.
English East India Company captains
were instructed to look for letters
whenever they reached the Cape; but
we must credit the Dutch for the first
post office, established at their Cape
settlement in 1791 when letters to
and from Holland were charged at
6 stuivers (6d) per sheet. They were
hand-struck with a stamp inscribed
‘V.O.C. 6St’. The Dutch also developed
an inland postal service from that
time, expanding until it offered regular
collections and deliveries to and from
what later became Port Elizabeth and
Simonstown. A post wagon service for
passengers, parcels and letters also ran
to Stellenbosch.
During the 17th century control of
the Cape had switched three times; but
in 1803 the Treaty of Amiens placed
it firmly in Great Britain’s grasp and
it became a colony under the British
Crown. Retaining the Dutch postal
system, the British brought new postal
rates in 1806, including an overseas
charge of 1 shilling for a single letter, 2
shillings for a double letter, 1 shilling
an ounce for small packets; and a free
service for military non-commissioned
ranks. They also introduced pre-
payment and a swifter horse-mounted
service between approximately 100
country POs. Named ‘PAID’ hand-
stamps came in 1817, with ‘SHIP
LETTER’ and ‘PACKET LETTER’
hand-stamps in use at about the same
time. A monthly steam packet service
to England was ploughing the Atlantic
ocean by 1850, reflecting the Colony’s
importance to the British economy. On
land colonists had to wait until 1883
for the first railway Travelling Post
Office (TPO).
Cape of Good Hope’s tentative
steps towards adhesive postage stamps
faltered in 1848 when instructions
given to Perkins, Bacon & Petch to
prepare dies and plates for stamps
presumably of conventional rectangular
shape, were cancelled with little
explanation. Four years later, in August
1852, the design for the renowned
triangulars was proposed by Charles
Davidson Bell, the Cape’s Surveyor
General, whose initial sketches also
showed a trapezoid stamp with theGibraltar 1889-1896
25c ultramarine, used for
redirection on an 1890
envelope from Cape of
Good Hope to Gibraltar,
re-addressed to England.
With a most unusual
usage’ the cover realised
£300 in 2015CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
triangular. His proposed innovationGibraltar 1889-1896
25c ultramarine, used foruurberg Sanatorium: 1897 envelope to France franked 1/2d. block of four and
single with three good to fi ne ‘DE 14/7’ datestamps. Backstamped by two
straight line ‘ZUURBERG’, scarce Coerney transit and Dieulefi t arrival CDS’s.
Realised £170 in 20141901 envelope to Australia, franked by 1900 (Jan.) 1d. (3) tied by boxed ‘LOOSE
SHIP LETTER’. Some staining, otherwise fi nep66 Empire.indd 67 01/03/2016 11:39