Coded postal obliterators

Most such codes were enclosed within a design of dots, rays, bars or concentric circles or ovals to ensure the effective cancellation of the stamp.

[3] They include: Antigua used barred obliterators "A02" (St. John's) and "A18" (English Harbour), originally on the stamps of Great Britain.

British Guiana used barred obliterators "A03" (Georgetown) and "A04" (New Amsterdam), originally on the stamps of Great Britain.

British Honduras used a barred obliterator "A06" (Belize City), originally on the stamps of Great Britain.

The British Virgin Islands used a barred obliterator "A13" (Tortola), originally on the stamps of Great Britain.

Canada and the provinces of Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia used numeral obliterators.

The British South Africa Company, Cape of Good Hope, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal used numeral obliterators.

The obliterator was as a diamond or trapezoidal shaped grid of dots, measuring about 20 millimeters (0.75 inches) on each side, with a set of numbers at its center.

The dots are noticeably smaller in the "losange à petits chiffres" and its numbers measured approximately 4 millimeters high.

The Type I obliterations were withdrawn in January 1881, so they are found only on Large Hermes definitives and on the first two issues of postage due stamps (1875/1876) of the period.

The post office of the Cretan State supplied every rural postman with a numerically coded obliteration.

Philatelic literature distinguishes four types of postmarks based on the number of dots per side (11, 12, 13 or 18).

[13] Netherlands and its colonies Curaçao, Suriname and Dutch East Indies used a numeral series.