Cancellations

Suspect a CTO if:

- Eastern bloc or other communist country (Czechoslovakia, Cuba, North Korea);
- "Third World" country (Burundi, Rwanda, etc.);
- other stamps in the same set have a similar cancel;
- cancel seems to be perfectly placed in a corner and information is not readable on it, other than a letter or two;
- ink in cancel is all the same shade
- gum is present (this one is automatic)

Suspect a "favour cancel" if:
- cancel is nicely placed and there are varying degrees of intensity in the ink (although this is not prima facie proof of it being a favour cancel);
- item is on piece
- item is without gum

It is unlikely that the following are CTO's:
- missing gum
- if a circular cancel, more than 1/4 of the circle is present
- placement other than a corner or a side;
- socked on the nose;
- more than one circular cancel on stamp.

Thanks. If it's of any comfort, that's what I used to do too ;)
But it's definitely one great series to study and dive into.

Hi All

Please let me add my 2 cents worth on this topic.

Nine times out of ten, these CTO cancellations are usually from the capital city of any given country using these devices.

Some countries depend on the issues of stamps as a secondary, or maybe even a primary, source of income.

The vast majority of stamps bearing CTO cancellations did not see the country for which they were issued for. Some countries have even incorporated the CTO into part of their design.

For myself personally, I do not collect these cancels but have ended up with a lot of them through purchases of collections etc. For those of you who do, that is fine as long as you get the enjoyment out of them. Having said this, just keep it in mind that CTO stamps will always be worth less than their counterparts that have been 'nicely' cancelled and gone through the system.

I guess I am a purist, because I prefer stamps that are commercially cancelled and have gone through the regular postal systems. That is what the hobby is all about. Happy collecting.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Greai info all.

While reading the above posts I thought that it's the history aspect of stamps and cancels that is appealing to people.

If you like history and historical stuff then a stamp that was actually used (or intended to be used) by a real person in a real place is historical and personal and was valued by someone at some time to get their communication delivered to the destination (or intended to be used to achieve this goal for mint stamps).

I suppose the CTOs are historical in some sense but they were never intended for postal use or to be used for anything other than to have a person buy them as a souvenir kind of item. They are pretty though.

I always love topics about CTO's. It generates so much discussion. I collect CTO's just like I collect mint and used stamps. A CTO may be the only way to get a copy and they have nice cancels that do not obstruct the stamp design. They are the perfect cancellation as far as I am concerned. I soak the one's I put in my albums and leave the rest with gum just in case someone wants to trade CTO's. Let me toss this in the mix. To the collectors here that do not collect CTO's do you collect First Day Covers? Isn't a FDC a CTO?

In a sense, yes. A FDC cancellation is a 'form' of CTO but not exactly


This is a topic that has so many people with their own versions of CTOS. I think it is one of those grey zones??

Some people love them, I myself am not keen on them, but, what the heck. It is afterall a hobby and each of us collect to our own personal tastes

Chimo

Bujutsu