Question About 4c Lincoln Coil (Liberty Issue, Mid 1950's)

Scott Specialized has a note after No. 1058b stating "It was against postal regulatons to make available mint precanceled copies of No. 1058b ..." What is meant by "mint precanceled"? Sounds like a contradiction in terms!

"Mint precanceled" was an unused precancel. Until a precanceled stamp is put on an envelope, it is technically mint.
By the way, this regulation lasted for a long time; in the 1980's the USPS was still trying to persecute stamp dealers that sold precancels!
It took a lot of lobbying from PNC collectors and other stamp collectors to get this regu;ation off the books.

Peter

Thanks Peter. If I understand correctly, mint precancelled would be the precancelled stamp with gum still intact -- but it could not be legally sold that way. If that is the case, how did the USPS intend the stamp to be legally dispensed for public use?

The same way it is now. The stamps are still not available to the general public, only to mass mailers and collectors. Also, one has to have a special permit to use these stamps. A special collector's permit is available, free of charge, so collectors that buy these stamps can use any surplus stamps that they may have had to buy.
I have such a permit. I must use the correct amount of postage ( 45 cent at the moment ), take the letter to the office where the permit is held and hand it to a clerk who must handstamp this letter in my presence!

Pete

Thanks again Peter. Lots of information that I was totally unaware of.

Just to clarify...

Precanceled stamps now ARE available to the general public. You may have to order them by phone, but anyone can buy them. You do not have to have a permit, nor do you have to identify yourself as a collector.

You DO have to have a permit to use certain special service inscribed stamps (e.g., bulk rate, carrier pre-sort) and/or precanceled stamps, if you want to use them for first class postage. There are some additional restrictions, the more important ones have already been stated by Peter.

I've resurrected this old thread with some new questions:

I infer from the previous answers that most 1058b stamps will be found without gum (i.e. used). If the OG is intact, that stamp must have been distributed only to mass-mailers or collectors (not to be re-sold legally). This would make it much less common than stamps without gum, which explains the premium prices for MNH listed in Scott. Am I interpreting these things correctly?

Also, it appears that the pre-cancelled 1058b is the only 4c Lincoln coil of the "wet printing" variety.

Since Scott lists only MNH values for 1058b, what would be the value of a joint line pair without gum?

Last question: Are any "wet printing" Lincoln coils without the pre-cancel known to exist?

I infer from the previous answers that most 1058b stamps will be found without gum (i.e. used). If the OG is intact, that stamp must have been distributed only to mass-mailers or collectors (not to be re-sold legally). This would make it much less common than stamps without gum, which explains the premium prices for MNH listed in Scott. Am I interpreting these things correctly?
-> yes to all, although these were the POD rules for precancels at the time... at other times the rules were less strict

Also, it appears that the pre-cancelled 1058b is the only 4c Lincoln coil of the "wet printing" variety.
-> yes, appears so

Since Scott lists only MNH values for 1058b, what would be the value of a joint line pair without gum?
-> not high value to precancel collectors, I suspect not much interest from Liberty series specialists either but not sure.

Last question: Are any "wet printing" Lincoln coils without the pre-cancel known to exist?
-> as with question 2, apparently none

Munroe, you are correct about the first part. Your other questions I can not answer except for the one about the joint line pair. A joint line pair without gum would have been used and for a precancel that would be fairly unusual in my opinion. The only other way would be if someone took a mint pair and soaked it to get rid of the glue. Why would anyone do that?

Peter