Foreign Office handstamps Outward Letters

[jcopeland]

Not something I collect so a query about those normally applied between 1797 and 1836. According to my copy of the first edition of the County Catalogue these have Foreign Office or Foreign or F and the year (either in full or the last two figures) together with a number. The catalogue states that the significance of the number is not known. Is anybody aware of any publication that gives a reason?

[admin]

Not that I know of -- best guess is that they're just numbers to identify the handstamp (presumably to indirectly identify who was using it, should a query come up about the way a letter was handled).

Unfortunately, unless some archive record shows up or someone manages to spot a pattern, I suppose it's probably going to remain guesswork!

[jcopeland]

I do have evidence that the number relates to the date and hope to have published a short article on this but would be interested to know if anybody knows of any publication indicating a different view or which might render my proposed article redundant.