Express bicycle mail carried by the Canvey Island Local Post from 12 April, 2021, will now bear an additional and distinctive rectangular bordered cachet. An example of mail bearing the new cachet is shown below and this is also the first recorded use of the cachet.
Postmaster
CILP
We are going to Virtual Stampex! Are you?
Just sign-up with your email address and indicate your interests in the drop-down menu, and that is it!
This is the first ever 72 hour virtual international stamp show. Bringing together internationally recognised, dealers, auction houses, societies and specialists from all over the globe, this event will allow you and fellow philatelists from around the world to come together to buy, sell, learn, explore, network, showcase and enjoy a philatelic experience all from the comfort of your own home.
Whether you are new to the hobby or a seasoned philatelist, you’re sure to find something new and exciting at the show – welcome to the philatelic revolution.
It later occurred to me that apart from first day covers and philatelic items posted to collectors, plus post despatched containing stamp orders from our agent Alpha Thematics (carried by CILP and bearing our stamps), there was no evidence of mail actually carried by the CILP in the public domain!
To remedy this evidence gap, I will regularly publish examples of mail carried by us on a separate page; Examples of Mail Carried.
In fact hundreds of items have left the CILP Post Office Mailroom over the years, being 'walked' or 'bicycled' to a number of local Royal Mail Post Offices, or delivered by us direct to recipients living on the Island. This I believe establishes our bona fides of being an active local private post by definition.
Keep well, keep safe!
Postmaster
We have had a Collector's Checklist available online for sometime, enabling new and existing collectors to check their Canvey Post stamps. But this has the limitation of not being illustrated, and short of searching our website archives for images of our stamps, there was no way to tie in checklist with a particular stamp issue unless you already had it in your collection.
Now there is a new resource that solves the problem, a fully illustrated Online Stamp Catalogue covering the entire stamp output of the Canvey Island Local Post, from its first stamp in November 2010, to our latest stamp issued in April 2020!
Despite being web optimised the size of the current catalogue file may take a couple of minutes to load due to the number of images. Future stamps will be catalogued in a separate catalogue part on a new page.
The catalogue also uses new stamp reference numbers which are shorter and easier to remember! They are similar to the basic Stanley Gibbons catalogues. My original references, which include a CLP prefix and the date of release, will be retained solely as production identifiers rather than collector references.
The current online catalogue only covers stamp issues but we are preparing a comprehensive physical catalogue for publication in 2022. This will include first day covers, commemorative covers, postal stationery, Heritage Postcards, first day issue postcards, maxi cards and anything else postal or philatelic issued by the CILP.
I was surprised how much material there is to classify for this next project, but over ten years many designs have been produced and a lot of post has left this office!
Keep safe, keep well...
Postmaster
CILP