In the Victorian era, the time indicia in the hammer began a differential in time, with A.M. and P.M. Added to these was the NT symbol and about the meaning of this, very little is known.
In 1901, Queen Victoria died and Edward VII ascended the throne, and a new issue of stamps appeared featuring his bust on a set of stamps from 1¢ to 50¢ in value.
What very few collectors have noticed is that a very new system of indicia was introduced in the time element. Two hammers were used. The first was a single circle 21 mm in diameter with Victoria B.C. The second hammer was the duplex with the circle and killer with Victoria B.C. Canada. This duplex hammer came in two sizes. In one, the circle and killer are both 20 mm. In the other, the two are different in size, the circle being 23 mm and the killer 20 min.
Now to the point. The time element was now RAILROAD TIME: a twenty-four hour clock showing 1 to 24.
First published in The Guideline, Journal of the VIPS, October 1985
by Lester Small
About Lester Small
From 1984 to 1988, there were a number of articles about Canadian postal history (most of them about British Columbia) in The Guideline, the newsletter of the Vancouver Island Philatelic Society. Almost all of these were written by Lester Small (Member #341). Lester – a clerk at the Victoria Post Office – was also active in the Greater Victoria Philatelic Society. He organized the junior programme of the GVPS, and looked after the junior stamp club for 35 years.