Looking To Identify A Partial Box Cancel

This appears to be a partial box cancel of some sort but I can't seem to make out the city/state name. Anyone care to help me identify it?

Yet another one I can't seem to identify. In this case, I was first thinking perhaps Long Branch, NJ, but what does "ANC" mean? Then the state name doesn't look like N.J. but perhaps N.M. or N.H.? Any ideas?

New mexico?

cornwall on hudson NY

and a mashed up manchester NH maybe the PSS-512 or maybe a postcancel... would need to compare with reference copy to be sure.

Very possible it's a box cancel from:

Quote:

CORNWELL-ON-
THE-HUDSON, NY

When you add in a "THE" on the second line, it makes more sense.

I partially agree...and partially disagree. I agree that it may be a "mashed up Manchester, NH precancel", however, I doubt it's a PSS-512.

I have scanned a known PSS-512 next to the stamp in question at a higher resolution and can quickly see that the condensed lettering in the city name is wrong; the spacing of the bars is wrong and the distance between the city and state names are wrong, so even with some variations that may be present in a rubber handstamp precancel, it would be hard to agree that both are PSS-512's:



On the other hand, the higher resolution scan certainly confirms that the break in the top bar is almost certainly a double impression of a rubber handstamp precancel. The hi-res image also confirms the "N." in the state name is repeated twice on the stamp, and in each case is directly under the "C" in what we assume to be "MANCHESTER", so it does appear as if it is likely a precancel from Manchester, NH, but just not a PSS-512.

(Maybe a L-1 HS)?

checking the new Cummmings fakes catalog... both of the manchester's above, 1-cent and 5-cent, are postcancels, not PSS512

Please explain the "fakes catalog". If these are post-cancels, were they intentionally made to imitate a precancel for the unsuspecting collector? Or are they just readily accepted post-cancels that merely look similar to precancels but aren't? In other words, were they look-alikes made to deceive or are they just other run-of-the-mill post-cancels that can easily be mistaken for precancels?

Postcancels in this context refers to the latter: cancels that look like precancels but were not used under controlled precancelling conditions. Usually they are 'box' cancels where the vertical part of the box exists but extends off the stamp (usually on the envelope but not always] to the right and left. They are not fakes. My use of the term 'fakes catalog' was just my convenient shorthand for the name of the book.

The book: for years US precancel collectors have lusted for a comprehensive reference that will show pictures of each of the 'almost' precancels and provide some additional commentary on why they are not listed. These include postcancels, unlistable lookalikes, fakes, frauds, and other fun stuff. Finally, the book - as yet untitled - is near publication, maybe within a year. Draft copies on CD are avaiable for review at the major precancel meets. It runs about 2500 pages so only the most resolute have it on paper!
Bill Cummings - a past Editor of Scotts US Specialized, is the author.

Title Page:
NOT PRECANCELS
(Stage 6a, Middleton II)

HANDBOOK OF SOME CANCELS, etc., THAT LOOK LIKE
PRECANCELS, BUT AREN'T!


COUNTERFEITS FAKES
SOUVENIRS PERSONALS
SHOWS ADVERTISING
and more than 10,000 POST CANCELS

At last! After 50 or more years, a record of what isn't a precancel!

In color, when I can, with pictures of the genuine type with each counterfeit or deceptive postcancel, when I can.

With verified denominations of counterfeits and fakes, when I can!

Pictures of postcancels looking like a precancel, and a copy proving that it isn't a precancel, when I can!

Pictures of varieties!

By William W. Cummings wcummings@woh.rr.com
With the valued cooperation of dozens of collectors and dealers.
7/22/11

Wow! That reference catalog sounds like quite an undertaking.

At least I know the Manchester, NH stamps shown earlier are rightly considered box cancels and I will label them as such.

Thanks for all your interest and work in posting all of these comments. I find it very interesting (and I hope others do, too.)

thanks for posting fascinating pictures...
This picture of the manchester precancel may not be up on ebay much longer but it is the real deal.
I was an underbidder, I don't own one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NH-Precance...em43add081d3

Just to clarify... the name of the town IS "Cornwall on Hudson" although many of their cancels read "Cornwall of the Hudson". Whether this was an error, or a rare case of simplification by addition - I suspect the latter.