Queensland 2 shilling brown fiscal cancellation

The following notice was inserted in the Queensland Government Gazette of 3^rd January, 1880:

POSTAGE AND DUTY STAMPS. 

"The public are informed that from and after lst January, 1880, the issue of separate stamps for duty and postal purposes will cease.

The present postage stamps, from one penny to one shilling, and the present duty stamps, from two shillings upwards, will, in future, be the only stamps issued and each denomination will be available to the full extent of its nominal value for all purposes for which separate stamps have hitherto been required.”

What this meant was that postage stamps could be used for fiscal purposes and vice versa. This is why most of the Queensland 2nd sideface 2 shillings stamps were used for fiscal purposes and are therefore seen fiscally cancelled. Here are some examples of the different ways they were fiscally cancelled.

A commercial name using a cancel with violet ink - Davis

Pen cancel

Blue crayon cancel

Date cancel, September 1889

Commercial cancellation in violet ink

This block was offered at the Spink auction in October 2012 from the Alan Griffiths collection. The cancellation is BRISBANE T.C. [Telegraph Counter] 11.45 am. 21 February 1901