233 Off Color? Neat Cancel.

What are your thoughts on this one? Neat cancel. Any ideas?

Space filler at the least. Throw it away.

Nice centering but is it a cancel or a child with a marker in hand?

Ugly cancel, but maybe of more interest is that this is the "3-leaf" variety of Scott 233. Save it for that. I've always thought Scott should list & price this variety too, just like they do with things like the 2c broken hat, broken frameline, etc. Equally (un?)important IMO.

It's a period correct and a rather messy manuscript cancel. It is a 3 leaf but a space-filler just the same. I wouldn't throw it out however...

By "neat" you mean sloppy? lol.

Thanks lol. It does look like a child wrote on it. Interest in note about the "3 leaf". I'll keep it.

I'm curious. I brightened up the pic a bit to see it better. What makes this a spacefiller?





Looks like it has good centering, and all the perfs appear intact. Not sure about scuffing at the top center, but the rest seems well preserved. Don't know about the reverse.

To me this seems like a long way from being a spacefiller. Is this all about the pen cancel?

Exactly. Stamps of this period should typically have a handstamp or machine cancel. Pen cancels (a/k/a Manuscript Cancels) are far less desirable from this period.

Scott #233 has a catalog value of $9 in VF condition, but ebay sold sales suggest that copies with handstamp or machine cancels typically sell in the $1 to $3 range, so relatively speaking it's not a valuable enough stamp to be desirable with the pen cancel, especially since most collectors could acquire a better copy at a reasonable price.

Yes. I thought it was very unique too...No way a space saver to me! Thanks for all the insight!

I know that what you're saying is true, that pen canceled stamps are less than desirable, that has always seemed odd to me. Postmaster of offices that earned less than $50 per year had to buy their own postmarking devices. Wouldn't the frugal postmaster be saving his/her pennies and use a pen instead? Pen canceled stamps of the last decade of the 19th century are scarcer than handstamped or machine canceled stamps. As you can probaly tell I like manuscript cancels. Like this stamp. If it was canceled in some tiny post office, its an early use. If it was favor canceled in Washington, its still an early cancel. Or this cover, Little River Cal used a pen long before that office bought a handstamp. Sorry, not trying to highjack the thread, just making a point.

I agree little! Doesn't make a lot of sense to me either!

Does anyone have or has anyone seen another manuscript cancel similar? What distinguishes this from a scribble on a stamp?

Looks like it's autographed by Arrial Smmmy :)

I like it

<--- My avatar is one of my favorite stamps.

Not everyone hates pen cancels, but there are always people who are quick to judge.

Oh, here's another stamp from my album...



Kirk

Nice one, Kirk!