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WT1~ You say the exception is the precancell from Seattle,Wash...is that because the thick horizontal lines are NOT running horizontal,rather they are verticle lines??
Correct. The vertical line precancel on the coil stamp would be known as a Type 162 (specifically used for coil stamps). Unfortunately, no extra value for that one either (quite common).
In precancel collecting, you need to understand that there are often many types of precancels for different cities, especially the larger ones. To use Seattle as an example, there are something like 29 different types of precancels known for that city and all but two are very common and worth nothing more than perhaps a few cents apiece. The couple that are worth more are extremely rare finds. Then you have to consider that within each of those 29 different precancel types you will find that they were used on a wide variety of different stamps of various denominations over many years. Then, when you consider all of the different types of precancels for different cities and towns across the US, the number of stamps that are possible to collect can quickly grow to vast proportions (and that's not even touching on stamps from other countries who are also known to have used precancels.)
There are multiple catalogs that define all of the different types of precancels, too. It can often be overwhelming to even imagine all of the different precancels and precancel types available, and I doubt anyone has ever collected all of the known varieties, which is why many collectors choose to narrow down their precancel collecting interests to either a certain series of stamps or certain states or cities/towns or even certain precancel types, as a general collection of all of the available precancels can be intimidating for most novice collectors.
Here's some reading on precancels that will give you some of the basics:
http://precancels.com/wordpress/wp-...lArticle.pdf
Posted 09/30/2012 05:57 am
