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What's a pictorial postmark?
Everybody is accustomed to seeing ‘circular date cancels’ (CDC) or ‘circular date stamps’ (CDS) that simply have a location name (Diamond Creek), the state (Vic) and a postcode (3089), even if that CDS or CDC is square! These days, there are more often than not simply bar coding or machine cancels applied to cancel a stamp at a Mail Sorting Centre.
The moment there are additional significant words or graphics, the postmark then falls into the realms of being ‘commemorative’ or ‘pictorial’. To make life interesting, if there are words and graphics, then the postmark is ‘pictorially commemorative’ (makes sense!).
If you have a look at the header at the top of this page, you've an excellent montage of pictorial and commemorative postmarks right there!
A reasonable example of how the two look alongside each other is depicted here, although the Postal Manager at Jannali obviously has a slightly artistic bent in that the Australia Post logo and a star feature in the CDC. It is, nonetheless, a CDC while its counterpart is very obviously pictorial. Those of you who know Jannali are aware that it's 30 km south of Sydney and the scene depicted is of the bridge over the Georges River.
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Why collect pictorial or commemorative postmarks?
The simple answer to that is, why not? Historically and socially they are significant, simply because they are created to commemorate an event meaningful to a geographic location, or for a special event. Some examples for the latter are Olympic Games, our 2006-07 Ashes win, the 2007 APEC Forum, the 100th Anniversary of the Hobart GPO Clock and so on.
Geographically, pictorial postmarks put places on the map. For instance, in 2006, Normanville in South Australia introduced a new permanent pictorial stamp at the local Post Office. It featured the Leafy Sea Dragon which is found off the coast of Normanville and is also South Australia’s marine emblem.
In Western Australia, Albany’s permanent pictorial postmark features (not surprisingly) whales … one breaching, the other just ‘being’.
Just to make life interesting, and in case you haven't quite got the idea yet, here's a few more to think about:
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Are postmarks a valid collection area of philately?
Absolutely yes! In fact, it’s such a highly specialised area it has its own name — marcophily. When you think about it, you can argue that marcophily is the logical ‘end’ in the philatelic chain. Consider this:
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A new stamp is produced; people collect them in mint condition.
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That same stamp is put on an envelope (either an official First Day Cover or just a common or garden variety envelope you buy at the supermarket), and is then said to be on ‘cover’.
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Some people address the envelope (either to themselves or someone else) and have it postmarked at a Post Office - either with a CDS or pictorial postmark - and send it through the mail system. This cover is then said to be ‘philatelically used’ and some collectors will acquire only philatelically used covers!
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Other people acquire the new stamp on an envelope and have it returned to them from a Post Office without any address on it. Some collectors specialise in this type of cover.
The combinations used are actually limited by the collectors themselves, and it’s often interesting to hear just what a collector has set himself or herself as parameters for acquiring their covers.
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How many sorts of pictorial postmarks are there?
Quite a few really, but after a little practice you get to know at a glance which type you're looking at on a cover. Four most common ones are commemorative; national FDI (first day of isue) on First Day Cover (FDC); same thing but on Maximum Cards MCs and Permanent Pictorial Postmarks.
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Tell me about commemorative postmarks please.
Sure. Commemorative postmark used for either a single day or a limited period of time to mark a particular event (i.e. Commonwealth Games, Australian Open, Philatelic Exhibition, important conferences etc.). They often have a changeable date slug.
One interesting event that took place in 1977 was the Can-Tiki expedition, a take-off of the Kon-Tiki expedition which occurred in 1947 when six men sailed a balsa log raft about 4300 miles (6920 kilometres) from Calao in Peru to the island of Raroia in Polynesia in 101 days, proving that such a feat was possible in prehistoric times.
 Aussies being Aussies, some wags in 1977 built a similar craft, only this time made of beer cans! The two-man crew using two outboard motors (cheats?!) 'sailed' it successfully from Darwin to Singapore. While the pictorially commemorative postmark was spectacular in its own right, the usage of it on plain cover compared to an official souvenir cover are even more so.
When you compare the plain cover (envelope) to the special souvenir cover, both bearing the same pictorial postmark, it's astonishing what a difference a cover makes:
And just to make matters interesting, the back of the official souvenir cover is backstamped "Singapore" and signed by the participants! Very collectible indeed, if you're into that sort of thing.
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So what are national FDI postmarks on FDC (sounds techological!)
National FDI (first day of issue) postmarks produced to complement the issue of a new stamp on a First Day Cover (FDC). It is used for one day and one day only. Australia Post staff must have fun coming up with place names. For instance, the Dangerous Australians stamp issue of 2006 which featured such lovelies as the Box Jelly Fish, White Shark, and the Blue Ringed Octopus, had as its place of issue Watchem in Victoria! Very clever indeed. There are machine cancels used to produce FDCs en masse; a hand canceller available at the National Philatelic Bureau and another hand canceller used at the place of issue (i.e. Watchem). There can often be subtle (and not so subtle) differences between the postmarkers used at each place, more often than not to do with sizing but sometimes with a blatant difference in the design.
The 'Nostalgia Tourism' FDC shown above is the one you can walk into any Australian Post Office on the first day of issue (in this instance, 10 April 2007), and purchase over the counter.
If you're a pictorial postmark purist however, you'll also want hand cancels from both the National Philatelic Bureau in Melbourne (right) as well as the Post Office of issue … in this case, Bondi Beach (left). Stamp and postmark placement aside, it is obvious to the naked eye that there is a difference between the postmarks.
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How different are national FDIs on Maximum Cards?
National FDI (first day of issue) postmarks produced to complement the issue of a new stamp on Maximum Cards (MCs). Whilst the design is essentially the same as for the FDCs, sizing can be different. As a matter of interest, once people catch on to the beauty of the MCs, watch their value go through the roof. If Australia Post were to expand the information on the back of each MC with relevant details about what was on the front, they would be even better than they are now.
As a f’rinstance, have a look at these from the Nostalgic Tourism stamp issue of 10 April 2007, shown in the FDCs above. The theme of each stamp is greatly amplified by the use of photographs from various official collections (Museum Victoria; Frank Hurley/National Library of Australia; Bicentennial Copying Project/State Library of New South Wales and the Hood Collection/State Library of New South Wales respectively).
and finally …
There’s no doubt the stamps take on a whole new meaning when expanded in this way. Sometimes the maximum cards are simply a larger version of the stamp itself, but there are some lovely sets around, especially when it comes to stamps/maximum cards featuring natural fauna and flora of Australia.
Incidentally, not all MCs ‘expand’ the subject matter of the stamp as the Nostalgic Tourism examples above do. The Zodiac series of April 2007 were a simple amplification of the stamp design (left) while Christmas 2005 highlighted just a part of the stamp, as shown here.
 
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Then how are Permanent Pictorial Postmarks different?
Permanent Pictorial Postmark are used only particular Post Offices, be they owned by Australia Post or franchised to a Licensed Post Office (LPO). For the most part, collectors aren’t too fussy about what stamp is used to obtain the postmark, as it’s the postmark itself which is important. And for most of us, it’s the first day of use of the postmark which is most important.
More often than not these reflect something unique to the area. For instance, Rochester in Victoria features a racing cyclist because Sir Hubert Opperman was born there. Cunnamulla’s in Queensland has the statue of the Cunnamulla Fella, a local icon, as part of its design. Minnipa’s in South Australia depicts Pildappa Rock — a great place to ‘overnight’ if you’re grey nomad-ing this tremendous country of ours.
For instance, this first day of use permanent pictorial postmark from Gilgandr a features Hitchen’s Own and refers to the occasion in 1915 when 26 local men decided to set off from Gilgandra on the first recruiting march of World War I. They received no support from the Army so walked 500 km to Sydney in six weeks, proclaiming their arrival in each town they passed through with the bushman’s cry for help … ‘coo-ee!’. They received a great deal of publicity along the way and by the time they arrived in Sydney the group was 263 strong. The event sparked seven other such marches from rural centres.
What a lot of information there is behind a pictorial postmark!
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Are there any more categories of pictorial postmarks?
Yes there are, but not many. Postmarks not used as frequently these days are classified as Seasonal, i.e. the same pictorial postmarker used each year with just a date change … Agfest (Agricultural Festival) at Carrick in Tasmania springs to mind immediately. Even then though, some interesting things happen. Have a look a the size of the dates. Even to the naked eye, the middle date is much larger than the two either side. This postmark was still in use in 2007.
Permanent Pictorial Postmark for FDIs are usually the same design as the Permanent Pictorial Postmark used at a Post Office with the addition of the words "First Day of Issue" and are used only in conjunction with a new stamp issue. You couldn't get a better example than Penguin in Tasmania:
However, since the advent of National First Day of Issue postmarks in the1980s, these have largely fallen into disuse.
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