Manuscript Penmanship On Covers And Stamps.

As far as cancels go I suppose these just squeaks by as a pen/manuscript cancel albeit just barely.

Here is one I have coming. I think it's quite fancy but I normally don't collect these later covers.

Wow! Super nice. IMHO, it is even nicer (except for the stamps) than the Payen covers. And with three styles of fancy writing: manuscript addressed, plus "Special Delivery" and "(or Steel Pier). If we both had seen and bid on this, I'm sure you would have paid more than you did to win it

Spectacular penmanship, I_Love_Stamps! Thanks for showing it.

I love how straight everything is on this one.

A few writing examples special note to the plymouth rock pants company and the seller of furniture and undertaking one stop shopping! dunno why my famous americans is in this thread? guess I must be reeking havoc on the jpg numbering system somehow and I am garbling something up somewhere.

Very nice stampcrow. The continuous writing connecting the first and last names is interesting.

LarryBruce, the Winchester and Washington DC covers are my favorites of the bunch.

We've all got it wrong ?!@#$%?

The Wiki G-d has ruled:

"Penmanship is the technique of writing with the hand using a writing instrument."

"... an individual's style of penmanship is referred to as 'handwriting' ..."

It seems that I, like most folks in this thread, have been using these terms incorrectly, eg, 'handwriting' as the mere act of writing by hand, and 'penmanship' as the elevated craft.

Either way, here's a pretty collotype.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I Love Stamps-I just saw this thread. I don't know if you are aware of it, but that "modern" cover is a fascinating bit of Hollywood history. It was sent from Gloria Swanson, famous as a silent screen star and later in the classic "Sunset Boulevard", to Helen Morgan, an actress and singer who drank herself to death in 1941 at the age of 41. Great cover.

Nice old thread, love manuscript postmarks, usually the first postmark of a town. At least until the town's postmaster could buy a CDS, especially in small town post offices. Here's a couple of my favorites.









This is the earlest known cover from Bucksport, Cal

ILS - that's a great Helen Morgan cover.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as manuscript handwriting or not, but it sure is fancy.

Pen Cancels on stamps are a difficult subject for the collector of Official Stamps. Was that pen cancel actually postally used or was it a favor cancel applied at the 3rd Assistant Postmaster Generals's office in Washington,DC? During the in use period of the Departmental stamps, the general public were not allowed to own mint Official stamps, but could buy them at a deck in the 3rd Assistant PM General's office, where they were canceled, usually with a pen. All of that said, I've got a bunch of 'em !

My favorite, no matter if it was postally used or a favor cancel, this is an early stamp, within 6 months of issue.





This next stamp I believe is a precancel, notice that all of the lines begin and end off the stamp, like the full sheet was pen canceled.





Another precancel






The following two Navy stamps show a postally used 6C and a favor canceled 24C. The postmark on the 6C is pretty light, and it looks as though the PM re canceled it with a pen. Pretty sure a clerk at the 3rd Ast PMG's office in Washington canceled the 24C.



















































Another precancel style.

Jenny2U: that cover would have Mr Hancock spinning in his grave.

This is one I've shown before, but I think the artistic penmanship on something as small as a stamp is amazing. Of course, I couldn't do it regardless of the size of the canvas.

Actually this is only a little above average for penmanship on revenues, many were cancelled by professional calligraphers.