Question Regarding Dated Devices

If I have a precancel (with no date) valued at $5.00, will that same stamp be worth more or less with a date on it?

Frankie

Normally less. There are some rare dated precancels that are worth much more to collector of dated.

See if I can get this straight. Dated precancels are generally worth less than non-dateds...and precancels are generally worth less than non-precanceled stamps. Yet, it is increasingly more difficult to find a precancel from a given city/state or type...or to locate a dated precancel from a certain month/year or business affiliation. Seems to me it should be exactly the opposite, but I know market dictates the whole supply and demand thing.

I have read articles from the early days of stamp collecting where the writer basically encouraged new collectors to discard precancels as nothing more than junk; then I hear that modern-day collectors are "re-discovering" precancels as a viable collecting alternative. If that's the case, the market may turn around.

Regardless, I don't collect stamps for profit; only for enjoyment as a hobby. I happen to like collecting precancels because of the challenge of finding new and different locales imprinted on the stamp. The way I look at it, if precancels (or even dated precancels) are considered less desirable, there's all that more out there for me to collect at a low cost.

At least precancels fare better than perfins which were often referred to as "mutilated". Many precancel dealers value common dated as 25-50% value of the regular precancel.

Regarding precancels, perfins, meters (taped and machine) and cinderellas, there was a time that all these were considered to be junk. This is a statement that cannot be used presently simply because there are collectors solely devoted to this facit of stamp collecting. There is a growing number of collectors of these areas and there are now societies solely devoted to them as well.

My question now is, will "Spray-on" cancels and electronic generated markings be a collectible in the not too distant future as well?? Time will tell I guess.

Chimo

Bujutsu

The Machine Cancel Society keeps up on spray cancels. I belong to the MCS but my only interest is flag cancels.

I know many collectors balk at the idea of collecting precancels, and even more hate the idea of collecting non-stamps (i.e. postage labels, meters, etc.). In fact, it's been nearly a month since I've seen the last stamped piece of mail addressed to my household. Everything in this day is either meters or labels or "postage paid" indicia, that rarely even gives a date of mailing, never mind a postmark or anything collectible. I mentioned in another post that I collect meters, which may be an insult to some stamp collecting purists, but on the other hand, it was also suggested it may very well be the stamp collecting medium of the 21st century, if stamps are being replaced by all of these new technological advances. Even the simple postmark has gone away in deference to the spray-on cancels.

I guess I have to bring myself to accept these new changes. For anyone interested, I found this article that puts it well into perspective:

http://www.the-dispatch.com/article...TS/101184020

Looking at an old 1894 French catalogue / album combined, just when the telegraph and postage were operational at the same time and stamps existed for both, the catalogue and album had both kinds of the stamps listed.

Postage won out in the end so we have postage stamp catalogues and albums now. I also noticed lots of strange (to me) revenue stamps collected in the album at the same time. Whatever was out there to be collected and pushed by dealers was collected (and pursued by collectors also!).

Probably the little box that had a Santa chocolate in it that I just took a tasty bite out of is collected too.

It is just when there are lots and lots of desired (read pretty, eye catching, handsome, cool, neat, spiffy (nod to perfins there ) and jazzy collectible items that there will be people to collect and argue over the finer pints and dealers to buy cheaply and sell dearly. The show must go on.

Now where did I put my Frama catalog?