Po Required Precancel Gum Removal?

While communicating with a seller today I was told that the post office required precancel collectors/buyers to remove the gum.

I don't work with precancels much so am not familiar with use requirements. I've been searching for a couple hours now and can find no direct reference to post offices requiring gum removal. Would anyone have info and links regarding this PO practice?

Are you talking about present day regulations or some obscure postal regulations from decades ago? If present day, I've never heard of such a thing. In fact, today's "precancels" are the "Presort First Class" stamps (such as the recently released Spectrum Eagle) and they are actually sold to collectors from Stamp Fulfillment Services with self adhesive gum attached.

Further, since collectors can get easily a permit to use "precanceled" stamps on philatelic mail, I can't see how that sort of a regulation would every apply.

[edit] Maybe some regulation of this sort might be in place in other countries, but none in the US that I am aware of.

For further reading on the subject, you can check out this link:

http://pe.usps.com/text/dmm300/604.htm#1080435

(Pay particular attention to Section 3.5.)

I call BS on that! If I have a block of pre-cancelled "mint" O.G.- A.I. I'm not going to deface it for some stupid person that tells me I have too or else...Or else what I ask you? Sounds like a load of bull to me. I wouldn't sweat it stampmutt.

Yea it sounded very odd to me. Certainly an unenforceable policy if it existed.

Most of the items were 1960 or earlier, fine condition precancels but listing after listing has no gum. I asked 'why' and the answer given was that the PO required gum removal. I agree with you ILS, I would not remove gum from mint stamps for any reason.

Thanks for the link wt1. I'll read the whole thing in a bit. Section 3.5 brings another question to mind. If I buy and use a precancel stamp how do they know if I am permitted to use them? Hmm ok I assume my carrier will not take precancel mail and I must present it at the PO? I think I just highjacked my own thread. Just curious as I have NO intention of using precancel for mailing.

There is one ebay seller (and only one that I can find) suggesting that "the post office required removal of gum during this timeframe". As his stock seems overpriced to begin with, I'm not sure if this was a honest error or perhaps a statement suggesting that his inventory is somehow more valuable because of it. Here's a link to one of several such listings:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1031-1c-RAR...t_1795wt_995

That's the guy.

I was looking into specific precancel locations and his auction came up. Reviewing his auctions I noticed his sheets have no gum and neither do his coil pairs. Being the curious type I messaged him as to why and he gave me the PO reason.

EDIT: Prior to my discussion with him he DID NOT have the post office requirement stated on his auctions Retracted as I did not review all 519 of his auctions.

You must have a permit to do it and present your mail to the post office directly. The requirments are all outlined in the earlier link under Section 3.2. It's free, but rather cumbersome for the average collector to bother with.

Sorry I have not finished reading the document yet. I'll do that before I ask more silly questions.

Speaking of his high prices is this for real?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/840-1-1-2c-...em1c1cbc619a

That MACON coil may never sell at that price but it is rare. I suspect at 50% off it would find a ready buyer.

Hmm. What makes it valuable or rare? #840 Joint line pair values at $1.50.

And what does "in COMBINATION with Gap Pair" mean? Nothing in Scotts about this.

The Macon bureau precancel prexy coil has always been considered a rare precancel. The 'gap' is a gap in the precancel lines, they are not Scott listed. In this pair, it is seen on the left side. Single stamps will sell for over 100$. Scarce precancels can sell for surprising prices.

The USPO "rules" for precancel stamps have changed many times over the years. For a while they were very "collector unfriendly" including a prohibition against owning gummed items. That rule is no longer in effect.

I have never heard of that one before. When was such a rule in effect? Is there a postal regulation that can be referenced about it? No mention is made of it (at least not that I recall seeing) on any precancel website (probably because it is now defunct).

Nevertheless, there are gummed examples of precancels out there, so were collectors acquiring them "illegally" when the rule was in effect? What caused them to change the rules?

A curious piece of postal history I've never heard of before.

I thought I read that the gap precancel was just a different format as opposed to continuous lines. This is interesting information to have. Thanks. Then I find this on the subject also:
"A gap pair (Figure 12, right) is produced by the position of the key in the printing roll. There will be a gap produced every 12th stamp on the roll. Gap pairs are actually more common than the other varieties. The combination of a line and gap will be present every 204th space on a coil roll (Figure 13, below). This will provide the reason why this pair combination is scarce."

Got to love learning new things.

So our seller mentioned above could be right? This IS interesting. I too would love to find some reading material on this out of date rule.