Can't Identify This Fancy Cancel. Painesville, OH

I can't identify this fancy cancel:





I've looked through these two sources several times and cannot find it:

1. United Stats Cancellation 1845-1869 by Hubert C. Skinner... APS Handbook series published 1980

2. Cancellations and killers of the banknote era 1870-1894 by James M. Cole, The U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, Inc. published 1995

Both free from http://www.uspcs.org/resource-cente...nic-library/

Yes, they are 20+ year old sources. I don't have access to newer.

Can anyone identify it using a newer source? If not, then what do I do next? Send an image of it to a specialist? Who to send it to? Thanks.

As for dating it, I found several examples of this postal stationary dating to around 1870. Found a few excerpts in newspapers:

Iron Age, Volume 63, April 6, 1899: "Doolittle Bros. have purchase C. O. Child's Hard-ware stock at Painesville, Ohio.

Robert E. Doolittle born 12/1/1851 married 1/8/1873 to Alice S. Andress of Elyria, Ohio who was born 10/30/1853. A member of Doolittle Bros. Co., hardware merchants, Painesville, Ohio.

Have you tried the U.S. Cancellation club?

http://bob.trachimowicz.org/uscchome.htm

It is a common segmented cork cancel.
Cancels were made out of cork....this postmaster
just divided (carved) this into 6 sections.

littleriverphil, thanks for the link. It lists a study working to update the two sources I found.

"Underway now is a project to update it, largely by providing new information about the listed cancels, such as post office of origin (where not already provided), ink colors, dates of use, stamps upon which found, etc."...

"If you have any information whatsoever that could be of assistance to any of the Research Projects noted above, please contact:"...

I'll send in my scan. Maybe this mundane circular geometric cork cancel on a damaged envelope will interest them.

Thanks again,
Ryan

As for the return address of the cover shown with the name "C.O. Child", the full name was actually "Carlos O. Child". Based on the 1870 Census, he was in the hardware store business as shown on the cover. Here's an excerpt from the Census page of 1870:



I also found this reference in a 2013 Alumni Magazine for Lake Erie College about one of the houses on their campus, which shows that Mr. Child's wife either donated or sold the property to the college known as the "Knox House" at the time that Carlos O. Child was Treasurer of the Lake Erie Seminary (1884-1904):



I also found a cemetery record showing Carlos O. Child (1827-1904), along with his wife and children, are buried in a family plot at Evergreen Cemetery, Painesville, Ohio.

wt1, you are a much better researcher than I. Thank you. What sources do you use? It seems like most data are behind pay walls. If I were to spring the cash for one, which would you recommend?

Everything I gather as to postal history items posted are all from "free" sites. It's just a matter of using various phrases, quotes, name research, census documents, genealogical data and the like to connect it altogether. Sometimes its easy; other times it can be a real challenge to find some of this information.

Roger Curran of The US Cancellation Club wrote back an informative and pleasant reply.

"That is an attractive cancel on the cover from Painesville, OH. It is of a style that is often referred to as a "circle of wedges." Cancels such as yours come from cancelers made of cork or soft wood into which designs were carved by hand. There were a large number of variations of this popular "circle of wedges" design carved over a considerable period of time--primarily from the 1850s through the 1870s. Some are listed in cancellation reference books but many are not. You mentioned the Skinner-Eno and Cole books and they are the two most prominent references. I looked through a 3rd important book, "Cancellations Found on 19th Century US Stamps" by Kenneth Whitfield, and did not find your cancel listed there, although two Painesville cancels were included--one a Masonic cancel and the other what appears to be a primitive "P" in a circular cancel...I hope the above has been of some assistance. If you have questions or wish to discuss any aspect, please feel free to contact me further."

There are so many lovely people in this hobby.

It's not a very significant contribution, but maybe someone someday will find this post in their research.

Does the community here find these types of posts worthwhile? I do until there is a much larger quantity of new posts each day. At that point, new subforums could be created.

Some may find this helpful:

Jim Forte's Postal History Website has two Painesville, Ohio covers from approximately the same period for sale. The CDS is almost identical to the one shown in the initial scan, but the killer portion of postmark is decidedly different on both -- just other examples of how multiple cork killers were most likely carved by hand at the location:

Even more info. Thanks wt1. Roger already has a link to this thread, so even more info for the USCC. Regardless, this post is now the first result on google now for "Painesville, OH stamp cancel".

This brings into question many things about these cork/softwood killers. I had assumed that individual P.O.s would keep their design consistent. So there probably wasn't a general US policy. Someday I'll be able to afford literature from the specialist organizations. Until then, I'm thankful for people like you. Cheers