Commercial Overprint Society of Great Britain
Vol. 1 No. 12; June 1, 2004
Spencer, Turner, & Boldero
by Bill Waggoner
Spencer, Turner, & Boldero overprints and handstamp cancellations are known on postage stamps from the Victorian Era. Reportedly, this company also overprinted its name (or initials) on the small-sized Inland Revenue stamps issued in 1868-1881.
The company was a department store in west London that began business as linen drapers. Following early successes, the company first took over numbers 60-74 Lisson Grove and, later, numbers 75-93, to become a department store and wholesale warehouse. (Lisson Grove, London, is a street running north from Marlyebone Road just west of Marlyebone Station, the terminus of trains from the north-west.) It employed 300 assistants and 200 needlewomen. There were staff dining rooms, a library, and a reading room. Stables for horse-drawn delivery carts were maintained on Duke Street. (These were demolished in 1970 and replaced by apartments.) Now Social Security offices stand on the site of the Spencer, Turner, & Boldero department store and warehouse, which closed in the 1960s "after over 120 years of trading," according to one account.
A perfin auction in 2001 included a lot consisting of a perfined King George V 2d stamp on a 1930 receipt, the receipt reading "ST/&B", and a second item, a 2d stamp overprinted, "Received for/S. T. & B., Ltd.", identified as Spencer, Turner, & Boldero, Ltd.
The pattern continues to appear even in the Queen Elizabeth era.
(Click to see larger versions (268KB)).
Thanks to David Bird, Terrence Wood, and Lawrence Armitage for additional information.
"British Engine"
by Michael Behm
The British Engine Boiler and Electrical Insurance Company appears to have been formed in 1878 and may have ceased operations in 1995. Despite this long history, their use of commercial overprints has been reported only from about 1935 to 1954. The two main patterns are shown below.
| Pattern | SG Catalogue Numbers | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 442 | 465 | 488 | 506 | 518 | Spacing variations exist on SG 518. |
 | 506 | |||||
In addition to their insurance business, the company produced technical reports on engineering failures and other subjects at least as early as 1922.
Offices are known to have been on Long Millgate in Manchester as well as in Birmingham.
(Click to see a larger version (120KB)).
Send comments or questions to [email protected]