Recent Revenue Cancel Acquisitions

It's been a slow summer with respect to new acquitions, but here are some of the cancels I've picked up over the last 2-3 months.

First is one that is not a cancel, but rather a provisional 'STOCK TRANSFER' overprint. Not listed in Scott, but known to collectors.


















Presumably Cornelius Vanderbilt, likely a railroad usage of some sort.















Preprint paper fold running across the stamp.






















Lastly two very nice examples.

A great shield cancel, unattributed in the auction I purchased it from, but I believe it to be Harnden's Express.




An aesthetically lovely example of a Pacific Mail Steamship cancel in magneta, which contrasts very nicely against the blue.

I have seen a number of those stock transfer handstamps both mint and used, but never on a document and never with a recognizable cancel.

I've not seen them on document either. Richard lists them as provisional handstamps in the $30-35 range.

Hey, just wondering are these finds from shows and auctions mainly or are you able to locate these on the internet in various places?

Thank you for your guidance. Just wondering I search a few sites looking for items but have not come across those.

Very nice examples. I salute you on your ability to obtain outstanding items.

The majority came from ebay. The last two are from traditional auction (although I bid live online), and several are from APS circuits and the APS online store.

The bottom item is the best by far. Very scarce cancel in a popular collecting area. Three cent playing cards is next.

Reference this item as follows:

REVENUECOLLECTOR posted 10/05/2014 at 8:50 hours.

"First is one that is not a cancel, but rather a provisional 'STOCK TRANSFER' overprint. Not listed in Scott, but known to collectors."

The basic (parent stamp is R232 Documentary issued in 1917.

The stamp in the image is dated 4 Feb 1919! There wasn't any need for any provisional stock transfer stamps dated in 1919, as starting in 1918 there was a stock transfer stamps issued and used!

I've been a revenue collector for almost 60 years now, I've never seen a "PROVISONAL STOCK TRANSFER" such as this and suggest it is not a provisional, but some sort of a cancel on a documentary stamp. I've seen many provisional stock transfer stamps, all were hand written stock transfer.

I'd like to know what other long time collector think about this stamp.

I have seen this handstamp around for several years; it's not a cancel. I have seen mint OG examples of all the values under $1 with this handstamp. It is a potential provisional usage.
It's possible that someone needed some stock transfer stamps on the spur of the moment and created these, although I am not at all convinced that they are genuine. They might have been created in 1918 by someone who only used them occasionally and so had a supply that lasted until Feb of 1919.
As stated before, I would need to see an example tied on a proper document to accept them as genuine.

Could it just be that they had a surplus of old stamps to use up before they used the, by then issued and referred to Stock transfer stamp? Just a thought. Revenue collector those are absolutely striking and I always enjoy your posts! That Cornelius Vanderbilt one is amazing to me! Thank you.

I sent the image in question to Richard Friedberg, and his opinion meshes with Bart's opinion for the most part. He too has seen it on other denominations and considers it a provisional usage of a documentary as stock transfer. He believes that the reason these are not listed in Scott is that they were done by private firms, unlike the narcotic provisional handstamps, which were done by district offices.

These were not "old stamps" at the time, and the documentary taxes they were used for lasted several more decades. Either a private company used them and we have not found any documents as yet, or they were created later in an attempt to scam collectors. I think that if they were actually found used and tied to a document and got a good cert than Scott would list them, just as they do list certain narcotic stamps that were used by and for specific private companies (RJA26-29B).

Here's a few of the greens mentioned, probably common. Hard to find anyway. Kudos to you.