Welcome to
's Encyclopedia of Stamps and Philatelic Links
's Encyclopedia of Stamps and Philatelic LinksIntroductions
"What boring mail we receive today! Mail that comes with uncancelled bulk rate stamps, smeared Pitney-Bowes postage meter stamps, and those ugly pre-printed square mailing permits. How wonderful it would be if postal clerks in today's post offices could make their own home-made hand cancelling devices and put their imaginations into the postmarks that cancel our mail. Well, that's exactly what post office clerks did over one hundred years ago in the period following the Civil War ... and well into the 1890s. In those days, regulations about how mail should be cancelled were few and far between...and so postal clerks and postmasters, in those quiet hours when things weren't too busy, carved colorful illustrative hand cancels out of things like cork bottletops and pieces of pine wood. The most famous cancel carver of all was Waterbury, Connecticut's Postmaster John W. Hill who, from about 1863 until the early 1880s, carved a countless array of weird and wonderful things from cork and wood and made them into the hand cancelling devices he used on his city's mail. His most famous hand cancel is the Running Chicken which is so rare that a cover bearing three of these cancels is now worth over $300,000!" ... One of Hill's less rare cancels is the Beer Mug.
Many such fancy cancels by Hill are still in the lower price ranges...and available to most any collector even with a modest budget. Hill carved whatever struck his fancy --- and made some of them into special occasion cancels --- like his carving heart cancels every Valentine's Day. The pursuit of 19th century fancy cancels is one of stamp collecting's most exciting and enjoyable pastimes.- From the old: www.stingraystamps.com/tips.htm page. c.1998
Postmark Collectors Club
23381 Greenleaf Blvd, Elkhart IN 46514-4504
- Cancels, precancels (incl. U.S. Kansas/Nebraska overprints) - from Stamps FAQ - Chapter 25.3 (cf)
- General information.
- www.execpc.com/~joeluft/faq/ch25.html#25.3 '404' c.2008
- oh well: www.idi.ntnu.no/~bjornmu/rcsfaq/ch25.html#25.3 '404' c.2010; the last! (cc)
- Thematics Queensland, Australia : Article :
- Meter & Slogan Cancels
- www.toptown.com/THEEDGE/yaleman/tqmeter.htm '404' c.201104
The U.S. Pictoral Postmark Newsletter- "My name is Paul Brenner and I publish a weekly newsletter
(by mail), called The Postmark Advisory, that gives information about currently available pictorial cancellations (or postmarks) used by the United States Postal Service (USPS.) Due to the 30-day grace period permitted by the USPS you may obtain these pictorial postmarks after the date of use if your request is postmarked not later than 30 days after the last date of use of the cancel. In order to get these cancels you must have a source of US stamps. .. This netpublication gives a sample of ONLY a few of the many cancels currently available. ..."
Contents incluce
HOW-TO-DO-IT
NEWS OF POSTMARKS
LINKS
POSTAGE RATES
BUYING STAMPS AND POSTMARKS
POSTMARK INFORMATION WANTED
CINCO DE MAYO POSTMARKS
(OFFERED IN JAPANESE TOO)
Email: Paul
home.earthlink.net/~postmark1/ '404' c.201104
- & his: SPECIAL CANCELS - How-To-Do-It
- from the Postmark Newsletter
TOPICS:
What they are.
Getting the information.
Preparing your piece.
Outer address.
In the mail stream.
Under cover.
Money saving suggestions.
Your cover letter.
Multiples.
When to mail your request.
Returns.
How to save the cancellations.
Abbreviations and conventions.
Cachets.
General information.
Machine cancels.
Using topical stamps related to the cancel
Resources related to postmarks,
email: [email protected]
He also sells an advisory letter listing upcoming cancels. aj
home.earthlink.net/~postmark1/backgrou.htm '404'
- Ken Lawrence's Permit Postmarks (& self cancelling)
- Ref. (to Ken): The Evolution of Mail and Postage Stamps
www.delphi.com/stamps/lawrence1.html '404' c.2011
- Ian Billings' (@) GB Stamps & Postmarks with a maritime theme
- Recent special postmarks/cancels (cc)
- "British stamps and postmarks: news information and pictures from the web's No 1 resource."
geocities.com/Heartland/Estates/3337/ship.html '404' c.2009
- Rainbow Online World Wide Philatelic Literature - lists Billig's (much on cancels) as a seprate list!
- Proudly introduces it's Online Philatelic Literature Catalog. You can search by Article, Country, Author, and Classification (When available other than General) with immediate results. We have a great selection of magazine articles that date back to the early 1900's.
These articles have been meticulously preserved and are now digitized for reproduction at unbelievable prices. You will receive a full reproduction of the article.
old: www.rolww.com '404' c.2009
older: 206.126.128.63/literature/ '404'
Machine Cancels
The Machine Cancel Society
Swanson's Limited U.S. Machine Cancel Identifier; 1900-1920 a useful tool!
His Machine Cancellations Page - early 19TH Century of the USnice display (c.2011) The Swansons 514 Americas Way #2016 Box Elder, SD 57719-7600, USA
Machine Cancel Electronic Forum - Rich Small, Centreville, VA, USA members.aol.com/rsmall9293/mcfmain.htm '404' c.2011 (actually in '09)
The Machine Cancellations of Latvia by Juris Mors
"The first machine cancellations in Riga appeared in June 1908. ...
home8.swipnet.se/~w-86794/machine_text.htm '404' c.2011
HAND STAMPED POSTAL SLOGANS OF LATVIA by Juris Mors In 1936, postal authorities in Latvia initiated a program of stamping public service messages on cards and letters. The messages, or postal slogans as they could be called, provide us with insights into cultural events, tourist areas and the agricultural life style of a great portion of the Latvian people.
home8.swipnet.se/~w-86794/Slogan_text.htm '404'
Pictorals and Slogans as cancels..
Meter Stamp Society (MSS) APS-05
Next MSS Meeting: StampShow Columbus Ohio, USA: August 11-14, 2011
Vice President (c.2011): Stephen P. Kaplan
3659 S. Green Road, Suite 100, Beechwood, OH 44122, USA- old: Jack Meyer, 1379 Islewood Drive, Anacortes, WA 98221, USA
Another URL: www.MeterStamp.com (Alt. URL)- aka (at one time): The MSS Data Center - US & Canadian Town Lists
207.150.192.12/temp/metersta/Index1.htm '404'
icgroup.net/~skaplan/mss '404'
users.nowonline.net/~skaplan/mss/ '404' c.2011
members.aol.com/msslibarch/ - hometown.aol.com/msslibarch/ '404'
- Thematic Stamp Collector's Page (Japanese & English)
- English Menu Contents:
Thematic Stamp Collection Windmill/Water Mill Stamp Collection Pictorial Cancels of the World Japanese Scenic Cancels 2000 Japanese Scenic Cancels 2001
Precancels and PERFINs (SPIFS)
Precancels are generally used to speed the business process of mail distribution and 'perfins' (pin holes..) are usually done to protects an investment in postage. - aj
- The Precancel Stamp Society - "A COMPLETE RESOURCE CENTER"
- [email protected] ; watch it, they advertise that your email address is to be put on a mail list...
- old: geocities.com/moprecancels
- Linn's: Refresher Course: Precanceled stamps offer collecting variety
- The 'OIHO' Precancel Error on the 4c Lincoln
- From the 1954 Liberty Series Study Committee
- old: members.aol.com/raustin13/studygrp/oiho4.htm '404' c.2010
- Stamps FAQ: Chapter 22.8 : Special subjects: Perfins *
- 22.8 Perfins by Toke Norby (1996) (see also next link below)
22.8.1 SPIFS - PERFINS. Foreword and Part 1
22.8.2 The PERFIN Perforating Machine
22.8.3 'Holy Toledo, Those Stamps have Holes' and What Shall We Call These Holes?
22.8.4 The Authorizations to Perforate Stamps
22.8.5 What About PERFINs in Denmark?
22.8.6 What About PERFINs in Other Countries?
22.8.7 Epilogue - 'The Never Ending Story'
22.8.8 Epilogue II or The Man Who Coined The Term PERFIN
22.9 Perfins by David Tilton
WHICH ALSO NOTES:
The British Perfin Society,
(aka: Perfin Society of Great Britain ; aj.)
Paardeberg, West End, Marazion,
Cornwall TR17 0EH, UK
www.execpc.com/~joeluft/faq/ch22.html#22.8 '404' c.2008
idi.ntnu.no/~bjornmu/rcsfaq/ch22.html#22.8 '404' c.2011 (cc)
- The Story about the SPIFS and PERFINs - Toke Nørby
- - things you just gotta know... - aj
- The Perfins Place (Joe Coulbourne)
- A perfin is a perforated design, symbol, insignia, letter, or group of letters in a postage stamp placed there by an individual, organization, or government agency for the purpose of controlling the stamp's postal use. Perfin collectors call the "perforated design, symbol, insignia, letter, or group of letters" the perfin pattern.
On site material:
Perfins of the world
The History of Perfins
Has (had) loads of (see my list ->) links to other Perfin clubs & sites... aj
members.aol.com/perfins/ '404' c.2008
www.perfins.com/ '404' (commercial directory) c.2008
Last update 4/20/2011
Cancels Page (Est. 5/2001)
Specialized Collecting (Est. 3/2001)
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