Nebr. & Canal Zone (?)

Can anyone shed some light on these two? I know the Nebr. is common, but what's the story behind it? Is the Canal Zone considered a precancel? They are not in the catalog.

If these have been discussed before, it was before I found this forum, so sorry for the repeat!

Frankie

Great questions! look forward to reading the replies.

The Nebraska is an overprint (2008 Cat Value $1.30).
They were having problems with postal thievery in plains states (Kansas and Nebraska in particular) and so they decided in 1929 to overprint the stamps with the abbreviated name of the state to prevent resale in other states.


The Canal Zone is also an overprint and is quite common (2008 Cat Value 20¢).
The 0.5¢ and 1.5¢ US Prexies were the last US stamps to be overprinted for use in the Canal Zone (1939). If you found one on a cover I would hold onto it because I think they are sleepers. Mint examples abound on the market.

The "Nebr." and "Kans." overprints are not considered precancels, but are considered a Regular Issue and are listed in the Scott Catalog from 658 to 679. According to the Scott catalog:

"This special issue was authorized as a measure of preventing losses from post office burglaries. Approximately a year's supply was printed and issued to postmasters. The P.O. Dept. found it desirable to discountinue the State overprinted stamps after the initial supply was used."

Interestingly, the "Nebr." and "Kans." overprints do have precancel varieties as well. Some are shown at this link:

http://www.apnss.org/KansNebr.htm

The "Canal Zone" overprint shown is listed under "Canal Zone" in Scott Specialized as Scott #118 issued on September 1, 1939. 1,030,000 copies were issued. Check out Page 26 of this link for more info. on your example:

http://www.canalzonestudygroup.com/...irstEXH3.pdf