Ubombo

Ubombo postal agency (27s34 32e05), 17 km north east of Mkuze in the Ndwandwe district, opened in late 1893

• Postmark type Z3b in purple (16 February 1894 - 24 May 1898) rated 4R

Varieties: inverted day slug

Z3b

Postmark type Z3b

Ubombo postmark type Z3b dated 3 and 8 September 1895. Rated 4R. Seen on the Compustamp website

Ubombo postmark type Z3b dated 6 August 1896. Rated 4R. Seen on the Deverell / Macgregor website. Ex Hart

Ubombo postmark type Z3b dated 13 September 1896. Rated 4R. Seen in Spink auction no 15046 lot no 1846

Ubombo postmark type Z3b dated 8 August 1897. Rated 4R. Seen at Stamps of tie World

Ubombo postmark type Z3b dated 1 May 1898. Rated 4R. Seen on www.postmarks.co.za

Ubombo postmark type Z3b dated 24 May 1898. Rated 4R. Seen on the Michael Hamilton website

Other Types and Ratings (for more info see here)

• Davis & Joseph - Type 21 rated 4
• Kantey - Type Z. 7
• Proud D1  300/3000
• Putzel No 1 20/100
• Putzel - Post Office no rating

Melmoth

Melmoth post office (28s35 31e24), 35 km north of Eshowe, opened on 23 April 1888 as Entonjaneni and was renamed Melmoth in January 1893. 

• Postmark type Z4a (18 January 1893 - 7 December 1897) rated 2R
• Forgery A: dated 2 April 1890 with the date in 3 characters (APR) instead of the 3 characters (AP) found on genuine postmarks
• Forgery B: incorrectly spelt as 'MNEMOT' and a time code 5 PM

Varieties: month-day-year and inverted year-day-month

This postmark was retained and used on Natal stamps from 1898 onwards and this usage is included in the Natal section. I have also seen a post-1898 example on Zululand stamps dated 13 December 1901 and which may or may not be philatelically contrived

According to Davis and Joseph (p. 35), remainders of the 1894 Zululand definitive issues appear to have been cancelled by authorities. These possible remainders with CTO postmarks are known for several post offices including Melmoth

Z4a

Postmark type Z4a Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 11 July 1894. Rated 2R. Seen on Ebay

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 15 June 1895. Rated 2R. Seen in Stanley Gibbons online

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 9 September 1895. Rated 2R. Seen on Ebay

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 22 October 1895. Rated 2R. Seen in Spink auction no 19015 lot no 2337

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 16 November 1895. Rated 2R. Seen in Spink auction no 15046 lot no 1846

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 17 March 1896. Rated 2R. Seen on Ebay

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 4 April 1896. Rated 2R

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 48 August 1896. Rated 2R. Seen on Ebay

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 1896. Rated 2R. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 22 March 1897. Rated 2R. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 22 April 1897. Rated 2R. Seen in Spink auction no 6004 lot no 1664

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 19 May 1897. Rated 2R. Seen in Spink auction no 15046 lot no 1846

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 3 July 1897. Rated 2R. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 7 August 1897. Rated 2R. Seen on Ebay

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 7 December 1897. Rated 2R. Seen on Ebay

Melmoth postmark type Z4a dated 13 December 1901. Rated 2R. Seen in Spink auction no 20035 lot no 4160

Forgery A - 2 April 1890

Melmoth forgery dated 2 APR1890. Seen in Cape & Natal Philatelic Journal vol 23 no 3 (91) p. 216

Forgery B - 5 PM

Melmoth forgery incorrectly spelt with 5 PM time code. Seen in Cape & Natal Philatelic Journal vol 23 no 3 (91) p. 216

Other Types and Ratings (for more info see here)

• Davis & Joseph - Type 11 rated 1
• Kantey - Type Z. 9
• Proud D1  70/700
• Putzel No 1a  50/250
• Putzel - Post Office no rating

I suspect some of these ratings reflect usage of this postmark into the Natal and Union of South period

Forgeries

Two types of forgeries are known:

1. British stamps with a fake Zululand overprint which can be easily detected as the postmark or numeral cancel is not from a Zululand post office. This page shows examples of these forgeries

2. Forged postmarks exist for Eshowe and Melmoth and are shown on those post office pages

An English postmark - ... Hill NR Rail Station SE in England dated 28 August 1900. Seen on Ebay

A non Zululand postmark and numeral canceller. Seen on Ebay

A non Zululand postmark. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

A non Zululand numeral canceller. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

An English postmark dated 22 October 1901. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

A non Zululand and probably English postmark. Seen on Ebay

Forgery examples on British stamps used in England shown in Cape & Natal Philatelic Journal vol 23 no 3 (91) p. 217

Entonjaneni

Entonjaneni post office (28s35 31e24), 35 km north of Eshowe, opened on 23 April 1888 and was renamed Melmoth in November 1892. Originally violet ink was used for a short period, followed by black ink thereafter

• Postmark type Z5 (30 June 1888 - November 1892) rated 3R
• Postmark type Z5 in violet (28 July 1888 ) rated 5R

Varieties: transposed and inverted date slugs with month day year. In 1888-9 the month appeared first followed by the day with the order usually, but not always, reversed from 1890 onwards

54

Postmark type Z5

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 30 June 1888. Rated 3R. Seen in Spink auction 19015 lot no 2309

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 4 July 1888. Rated 3R. Seen in Stamps of the World

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 17 July 1888. Rated 3R. Seen in Spink auction 15046 lot no 1829

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 22 August 1888. Rated 3R. Seen in Spink auction 15046 lot no 1838

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 6 September 1888. Rated 3R. Seen in Kelleher auctions

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 11 September 1888. Rated 3R. Seen in Spink auction 8029 lot no 98

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 1 February 1889. Rated 3R. Seen in Stamps of the World

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 7 July 188-. Rated 3R. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 25 September 188-. Rated 3R. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 7 January 1890. Rated 3R. Seen in Spink auction 20035 lot no 4136

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 10 March 1891. Rated 3R. Seen in Spink auction 20035 lot no 4137

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated March 1891. Rated 3R

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 21 September 1891. Rated 3R. Seen in Stamps of the World

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated January 1892. Rated 3R. Seen in Stamps of the World

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 6 June 1892. Rated 3R. Stated to be the only recorded item of registered mail from this office and strongly suggesting that no separate registered handstamp existed. Seen in Spink auction 9015 lot no 2310

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 dated 24 June. Rated 3R. Seen in the collection of Morgan Farrell

Postmark type Z5 in violet

Entonjaneni postmark type Z5 in violet dated 28 July 1888. Rated 5R. Seen in Spink auction 15046 lot no 1837

Other Types and Ratings (for more info see here)

• Davis & Joseph - Type 1 rated 2 and 5 in violet
• Kantey - Type Z. 2
• Proud D1  350/3500
• Putzel No 1  500/2000
• Putzel - Post Office rated Very Rare