A study of the cartwheel postmark No. 9 from Alicante that explores its evolution, its variants and its use between 1858 and 1862. It includes not only its black and blue stamps, but also its importance in postal communication during a time of development of land mail and international maritime trade in the Mediterranean.
Text summary:
The cartwheel postmark No. 9 of Alicante was implemented to prevent fraud due to the reuse of stamps, replacing the grid and grill type postmarks by order of the General Directorate of Post Offices on October 7, 1858.
During the stamp issues of 1858, 1860 and 1862, there were several varieties of composition and colour. In addition, inverted cart wheels were detected in Alcoy and Alicante, which were also observed on some letters and wrappers from the main administration of Alicante.
The detailed study of the blue variant documents its appearance in December 1860 and August 1861, and its use in both the national service and maritime mail. In addition, numeral postmarks with anomalies in their stamping and their use to cancel foreign stamps on correspondence from abroad are mentioned.
This analysis also addresses the modification of the postmark in Alcoy, which differs from that of Alicante in the shape of the central numeral and an inverted radius.
It should be added that, although the official date of use of the cartwheel postmark throughout the national territory was October 15, 1858, it was already used unofficially in Madrid and other cities since the previous October 1.