This is one of the most popular areas of postal history collecting. Here the
focus is on the cancellation applied to the stamp and not the stamp itself.
As you would expect, smaller remote post offices handled much less mail so their
cancellations are much rarer. So in the case of Trinidad you would expect Toco
cancellations to be much rarer than Port of Spain ones. Some examples are given
below;
1 A TPO Cancel
This Travelling Post Office (TPO) was on board a steamer that ran between Port of Spain and Monos (with stops at Carenage and the Five Islands). The full cancel reads Mail Steamer Monos Route. In 1895 the boat that ran this route was the SS Iere.
2 A Numeral Cancel
This stamp was cancelled with a numeral 18 cancel. In this early period towns were assigned numbers and 18 was assigned to Savannah Grande which was later renamed Princes Town.
3 A Registered Cover from a closed post office.
This registered cover was sent from the old Park St. Post Office. In the 1970's this office was closed and covers cancelled with its date stamps are scarce. There were 2 permanent date stamps issued this one is perhaps the rarer of the two.
4 A Scarce Numeral Cancel
This 1879 Trinidad 1/2d stamp was cancelled with number 13 cancel. At the time each post office was assigned a number; Diego Martin's was 13. Since this was a small office and this type of cancel* was used for a limited time, it is scarce. (*this is known as a Marriott type 0.6 numeral cancel)
5 A Trinidad Stamp Used in Venezuela
In the 1870's Trinidad stamps were accepted for postage in Ciudad Bolivar. This
town which lies on the banks of Orinoco River in Venezuela had both historical
and trade ties with Trinidad. This post office used a D22 cancel (shown above).
6 A Rare Tobago Cancel.
This cover was sent from Moriah, a small village in central Tobago, in 1931.
Given Moriah's small size and the fact that the cancel was used for 10 years,
it is not surprising that the cancel is rare.
7 Caratal Cover
This cover is interesting mainly for the town cancel used. It was posted at Caratal, a small village south east of Sangre Grande. The cancel used is known as a type VIII cancel and these were used only at a handful of post offices. Originally these were Registration cancels with the word REGISTERED on the top part of the oval. This was later chiseled out leaving just the town name and Trinidad. As Caratal was a postal agency under Sangre Grande its mail received a back stamp from there en route to its destination.
8 Chacachcare Numeral
When the Trinidad inland postal system was opened in 1851 each town was allocated a number. Port of Spain was 1, San Fernando 2, St. Joseph 3 and so on. The post offices were issued with numeral cancels to frank their mail.
In 1880 a post office was opened in Mucurapo (now a suburb of Port of Spain near St. James), and it was given the number 28. Cancels such as this were used up to about 1886 when they were withdrawn and replaced by dated town cancels. However, they were often re-introduced for use at other post offices when the need arose.
In the 1930’s this numeral was re-introduced for use at Chacachacare P.O.. This is one the islands off the North Western tip of Trinidad where the Leper Asulum was situated. Due to its remote location not much mail was sent from the island and this cancel is considered rare.
9 Cumuto Cover
This cover was sent from the village of Cumuto on the 21st December 1898 to New Brunswick, Canada. The post office was only opened the previous year so this is an early cover from Cumuto.
Cumuto is named after the Rio Cumuto, a tributary of the Caroni, and the area was developed only in the latter half of the 19th century, mainly for cocoa and coffee production. Many settlers to the area were East Indian converts to the Presbyterian faith who moved away from their original communities. Interestingly it was Canadian Missionaries who were responsible for their conversion and it was they who opened a school there in 1903. Thus it is possible that this letter was mailed by one such missionary.
10 Registered envelope sent from Gasparillo, Trinidad to San Francisco in 1929.
It is addressed to Wo Kee & Co., at Grant Ave. in San Francisco (part of the city’s famous Chinatown). It was most probably an import/export company which supplied Trinidad’s Chinese merchants with goods. They must have done a flourishing trade as many registered envelopes addressed to them from small villages in Trinidad survive.
Up until recently these envelopes were sold by the Post Office as a convenient way of sending items by registered mail. The envelope is study and strengthened by fabric inside and the registration fee was included in the cost. In 1929 it was 3d (6 cents), but the postage also had to be added, this was 1d at the time so a 1d stamp was added.
This letter departed Gasparillo on Nov 21 1929, it passed through San Fernando the same day, Port of Spain on Nov. 22. It went by sea to New York and arrived on the Dec. 9, finally by train to San Francisco where it was delivered on Dec 13. The total journey taking about 20 days. It would be interesting to see how long such a letter would take today!