OK All, I Will Get Out Of You Hair But 1 Last ?

40 or more years ago, I found this letter and several others like it from my great great grand father. I also found a stack of deeds and documents from 1830-88 with his name on them, so I know this was his "bussiness" era. I remember IDing the series this stamp came from when I was a kid. As I recall, there were some relatively expensive stamps in this series but it was based on the color? Rose, Carmine, or? I think I found this to be one of the rarer colors/shades when I was a kid. Now, finding it again, I have 2 questions.
1. How badly does a heavy cancellation affect the price?
2. Using a book, which may not have the best color printing anyway, how do you know which shade or color it is?
That's it guys, I will get out of your hair and thanks so much for your input.

SORRY, Just trying to hard.

Since I don't really have a lot of hair, I never noticed you in it.

That said, don't have an answer for question 2, but I'd think the cork cancel, and a nice one it is, would add value to what is probably a relatively inexpensive stamp. Plus it is also on cover, and what looks like a mourning cover, what with the black border, I think it's a nice looking piece you've got there, from what you show us of it. Nice calligraphy too.

In alot of cases a cancel that completely covers the stamp devalues but in this case it is a fancy cancel and a very clean one at that. I don't have info on where it came from but it can likely be ID'd by someone who specializes in fancies. As good as your picture is I can't stress enough how much more helpful scans are with this and your WOW color shift. When it comes to that 3c washington the rarer colors were only used in a short time frame 1861 and lightly into 62. Does the envelope have a town /city circular cancel anywhere that may have the date? Odds are very high it is a standard 65 rose color or shade there of ( there are many shades that don't get into the rare pinks) . It doesn't look like the stamp has a grill but that is another scan advantage. Even with a great scan to be 100% sure of a pink shade of the 3c washington it would need to be sent in for a certification.
Don't give up on us so quickly- You mention other documents that can all have interesting stories , cancels and history behind them. Sometimes even low value revenue stamps can be appreciated when on documents in proper or even improper usage.

A heavy cancel usually does effect the value negatively. A fancy cancel, which this is, can impact value positively, or not at all--depending on how fancy and how rare the cancel. Colors of the cancelling ink can also impact value positively--black is the most common and doesn't add to value. There is a plethora of colors for this issue. The highest valued color is Pigeon Blood Pink, followed by Pink, followed by different hues of Pink, followed by others. Its very hard to determine color other than a side-by-side comparison with a know, certified stamp. The web site www.1847USA.com is a good place for you to start to get a feel for this issue. This stamp is the 3-cent stamp of the 1861 issues. Ray.Mac who's on this sight, has a good knowledge on this issue, perhaps he'll chime in on this too. You'll need to post a much better picture before anyone can venture an opinion on color for you. Good luck!

From this photo, it appears the album in the background is one of those "magnetic" or "magic" photo albums.

If so, get it away from your stamps as quickly as possible! The "sticky" stuff on the pages will ruin everything it touches.

Here's an example posted in another thread:


Kirk

On the fancy cancel, the 4-petal motif reminds me of a Pennsylvania Dutch design, which would fit with Bradford County, PA, and especially the surname Eilenberger.

Magnificent cancel on a civil war era mourning cover. I love it.

it does look Pennsylvania dutch but also fancy's a sand dollar too. PLEASE take Kirk's advice an get those poor covers out of that photo album it will completely decimate your collection! Neat fancy cancel too!

i think I would try to contact mr fancy cancel to get and idea about the cancel

Doug, you're right on again. Mailed from Strasburg, Pa.[Lancaster Co.] May 26. No year on envelope but letter is dated May 26, 1863. What did some one call it? Funeral Envelope or something like that? It is a letter to my Great, Great, Grandfather[full address, Moses Eilenberger of Bradford Co., Pa.] telling him of the death of his brother from smallpox. Died in the morning and buried in a couple hours. Don't want that hanging around.
Apparently, he was a wheeler and dealer of properties. I found a large box with 50 or sixty deeds dated 1834-89. Lot of letters in envelopes and checks most during the 1850s-60s. Many have revenue stamps. Are any of these of any value.
My father died recently and I'm doing some house cleaning. I am cleaning out the attic and basement and this whole box was confiscated by my brother. He is not highly thought of by the rest of his siblings, so we will probalby never see any of that again. I grabbed a small box of it but only contains 20+ deeds, several checks and a couple of the letters. Oh well!

Lots of this is in photo albums and then in the clear plastic sleeves with the self sticking back on them I used for my stamps and dollar bills from years ago. What is the best way to preserve and still be able to look at them without touching them. They are all stored in a dark closet.

Hi Crack The Sky. I use those small photo corners, and have some of my covers on regular album pages. Larger size covers I save in plastic pages that Leuchtturm sells. Peter

Here's a question I've never seen (or thought of) before -- did small-town Postmasters use a special cancel on mourning covers, since they were so obvious?

I knew you wouldn't get out of here so quick. You mention some mid century checks - There are a couple specialist in checks floatin around here . This all seems very personal to your family and thanks for sharing. It is important to store properly. Even plain stock books would be better than that old glue photo album. I had a bunch of early US checks as far back as 1869 so if you have earlier that would be great to see.