Doig's Ethiopian Cancellations 1895-1936

DOIG'S ETHIOPIA STAMP CATALOGUE

PREWAR ETHIOPIAN CANCELLATIONS
1895-1936

The first post offices were attached to the Abyssinia Campaign to rescue British captives held by the Emperor Theodore at Magdala in 1867-8.

Regular Ethiopian post offices were opened in Entotto (renamed Addis Abeba in 1901) and Harar in 1895. Dire Daoua was opened in 1906 to support the new railroad. A scattering of outlying towns opened POs, and by January, 1932 the following schedule was published for departure of mail from Addis Abeba:
Tuesdays: DJIMMAH, KAFFA, MADJI.
Wednesdays: GORE, DESSIE, SIDAMO, WELAMO, FITCHE, LEKAMPTE.
Wednesdays and Saturdays: AOUACHE, ASBE-TEFERI, BADESSA, DERROU, DIRE DAOUA, DJIGDJIGA, GUINNER, HARRAR, IRNA.

A travelling post office was opened on the railway between Addis Abeba and the border town of Daouale. Cancels also exist on Ethipian stamps from Djibouti and other locations. There are also listed some irregular handstamps.

ADDIS ABEBA (ENTOTTO)
Opened: 1895. Opened as Entotto near the foreign embassies. PHOTO Moved to new headquarters September 5, 1928. The PO located at Entotto may have remained in operation after 1928.

EN1	1895, May 5	1896, Aug 22	Bk
EN2	1896, Nov 15	1900, Aug 2	Bk, Br, Vi, Bl
AA0	1900, July	1900, Dec	Bk
AA1	1901, Jan 24	1917, Sept 3	Bk, Bl
AA3A	1908, Mar	1910, Aug	Bk, Bl
AA3B	1908, Mar	1909, Oct	Bk, Bl
AA3C	1909, Jan 10	1911, Sept 25	Bk, Bl
AA4A	1913, Sept 29	1932, July	Bk, Bl, Vi
AA4B	1918, Feb	1933, Apr	Bk
AA4C	1916, Apr	1918	Bk, Bl
AA4-F			Forgery ENLARGE
AA7	1918, Feb 18	1928, Sept 1	Bk, Vi
AA8	1918, Apr 16	1933, Aug 27	Bk, Bl, Vi
AA10	1924, Apr 10	1927, June 15	Bk
AA11A	1926, July	1933, July 5	Bk, Bl, Vi
AA11B	1928, July	1933, May	Bk, Vi
AA12A	1931, Mar ?	1936, Apr	Bk, Vi
AA12B	1936, Apr 26	1936, Apr 30	Bk
AA12C	1934, July	1936, Mar	Bk
AA12D	1934, Feb	1936, Mar	Bk
AA12E	1933, Dec 7	1935, Nov	Bk, Vi
AA12G	1936, Feb	1936, Mar	Bk

...

ADDIS ABEBA – FRENCH LEGATION
A post office was opened at the French Legation for a few weeks at the end of 1907. This was during a period in which the Ethiopian post office had ceased to operate. The cancel was used on Somali Coast stamps.

AA2

1907

Bk
Undated

ADDIS ABEBA – ARADA
Opened: 1908. A sub post office of Addis Abeba located in the market.

AA3 ?	1908
AA5A	1912, Feb 22	1936, Mar 2	Bk, Bl
AA5B	1912, Apr 13	1930, May	Bk, Bl, Vi COVER, BACK
AA9	1920, May 25	1929, Oct 25	Bk Forgery exists on 147A.

ADDIS ABEBA – GARE
Opened: 1917. A sub post office of Addis Abeba located in the train station.

	AA6A	1917, Oct	1936, June 15	Bk, Bl, Vi
	AA6B	1923, May 30	1935, Dec	Bk, Bl, Vi

ADDIS ABEBA – DAOUALE TRAVELLING POST OFFICE

AA13

1927, June 26

Bk
PHOTO

ADOUA (Tigre Province) - Cancel reported but not confirmed.

AKAKI (Shewa Province) - Cancel reported but not confirmed.

ANKOBER
Ankober is a village 150 kilometers northeast of Addis Abeba. It was Menelik II's camptol prior to his move to Entotto. The cancel was ordered from Paris in 1894 along with those of Entotto and Harar.

AN1

1897, May 10

1899, Oct 11

OD: 25.5mm, ID: 15.75mm, 12 dashes. Horizontal and
vertical lines may only partially appear or be absent.
Colors: Black, blue.
Western numbers with dates before 1900. PHOTO

AOUACHE (Shewa Province)
Aouache, or Awash, is on the Addis Abeba-Dire Daoua road. It was an important stop on the AA-Djibouti Railway.

AW2

Undated

Size: 9mm x 20 mm
Colors: violet.

AW1

1927, Apr 27

1935, Dec 19

OD: 26.75mm, ID: 15.25mm, DF: 8.5mm, 12/12 strokes.
Colors: Black, violet.
Year in 2 digits. Strokes above and below the date field are usually illegible. PHOTO

...

AOUARA MALKA
A plantation about 60 km from Awash run by the small arms trader, Sovoure, from 1901. Used as a precancel to prevent theft during transit.

AM1

1905, May

ARBA (Hararge Province) - Cancel reported but not confirmed.

ASBE TEFERI (Hararge Province)

AT1

1934, Apr 25

1936

AXOUM (Tigre Province) - Cancel reported but not confirmed.

BADESSA (Hararge Province)

BD1

1931, June

BORENA, in Welamo - Cancel reported but not confirmed. See WELAMO.

DEBRE MARCOS (Godjam Province)

	DM1	1932, June 30	1932, Dec 12	Bk PHOTO
	DM2	1933, Oct 22	1934, Nov 22	Bk

DEBRE TABOR - Post office reported but not confirmed.

DENGUELA (Godjam Province) - Cancel reported but not confirmed.

DERROU

DR1

1926, Jan 30

1932, Apr 25

Bk, Bl, Vi
PHOTO

DESSIE

DS1

1929, Mar

1935, Dec 30

Bk, Vi
PHOTO

DIRE DAOUA
Hararge Province. Diredaoua was established as a supply depot and shop to support the construction of the railroad between Djibouti and Addis Abeba. The railroad reached near Dire Daoua in about 1904, when J.A. Michel claims to have established a post office there. Much commerce moved from Harar to this modern city. The French established a post office which opened November 1, 1906; this PO was attached to Port Said, not Djibouti. With the reorganization of the Ethiopian PO by the French on June 1, 1908 all Ethiopian mail was cancelled there.

DD1	1906, Mar 22	1907, July 8	By J. A. Michel. OD: 25mm, ID: 16mm. Colors: Bk, Bl. Traveled covers from Michel known with Port Said stamps cancelled by DD2. May be two types.
DD2	1906, Dec 2	1912, Jan 3	By French. OD: 26.5 mm, 37 dashes, 6 armed star. Colors: Bk. Used on Port Said, Levant, and Somali Coast stamps from 1 –11 06 to 31 –06 08 and on Ethiopian stamps from 1-06-08. Date block set in 4 pieces. Exists without star. May be two cancels.
DD2-F1	Fake dates		Fournier Forgery. OD: 26.5mm, 37 irregular dashes, 5-pointed star. Colors: Bk. Used on Fornier fake stamps and overprints.
DD3	1908, May 28	1911, Dec	Bk, Bl
DD4A	1911, Dec 30	1936, Nov 8	Bk, Bl
DD4B	1912	1918	Bk
DD5A	1915, Sept	1936, Mar	Bk, Bl, Vi
DD5B	1919, Aug	1935, July 27	Bk

DJIGDJIGA (Hararge Province)

JJ1

1928, June

1933, Mar 5

Bk, Vi
PHOTO

DJIMMAH

JM1

1932, May 3

1934, July 14

Bk, Vi
PHOTO

FITCHE (Shewa Province) - Post office reported but not confirmed.

GARSA - Kersa, also known as Qarsa and Garsa, is located in Hararge Province. It is an agricultural area known for coffee, khat (narcotic), fruits, and vegetables. The GARSA cancel is thought to have been located at a coffee plantation c. 1902. The KERSA sub post office was not opened until the early 1970s.

GARSA

GS1

Abt 1902

Bl
PHOTO

GODJAM (a province)

GJ1

1933, Oct 22

Vi
PHOTO

GONDER (Begemdir & Semyen Province)

GD1

1931, Oct 10

Box 37.5 x 18.5 mm
PHOTO

GORE (Illubabor Province)

	GR1	1936, Nov 26	1936, Nov 26	Bk, Bl, Vi PHOTO
	GR2	1936		Bk

GUINNER (Bale Province)

GN1

1928, Aug

1935, Apr 16

Vi
PHOTO

HARAR (Hararge Province)

	HR1	1896	1907, Dec	Bk, Bl, Vi PHOTO
	HR2A	1895, Jan 29	1896, Dec 4	Bk
Cancel similar to HR2A	HR2B	1895	1895	Bk
	HR2-F	Forgery
	HR3	1896, Oct ?	1911, Dec	Bk, Bl
	HR5A	1908, June 1	1911, Dec 30	Bk, Bl PHOTO
	HR5B	1908, July	1911, Dec	Bl, Vi
	HR6A	1911, Dec 30	1918, July 1	Bk, Bl
Cancel similar to HR6A	HR6B	1913, Aug	1932, Mar	Bk, Bl, Vi
Cancel similar to HR6A	HR6C	1915, Mar	1929, June	Bk, Bl
	HR6-FA	Fake dates	Fake dates	Bk, Bl Forgery by J. A. Michel in 1938 with HARAR and 11/11 strokes.
	HR6-FB	Fake dates	Fake dates	Bk Forgery of unknown origin used on first issue and suspicious handstamps. 14/14 strokes.
	HR7	1931	1933, Nov	Bk