Why? Just Playing With A Cancelling Device?

Any ideas what the purpose of this would have been for? Just someone's idea of having fun by playing with a rubber stamp cancel or was there some legitimate reason (i.e. local precancel) that would have justified this?

excess inventory sold to collectors at a discount?? this is the method used (especially in eastern European countries) to CTO stamps, which is why the singles always have a perfect ¼ round cancel in a corner.

I've never heard of the U.S. doing CTO's. Excuse me, I've never heard of the U.S. discounting postage stamps...even cancelled ones.

It's probably related to parcel mail given the oval postmark. Sender had a massive box to mail, gave the clerk the stamps for payment, clerk cancels stamps, but put another indicator that postage has been paid on the parcel and hands the stamps back to sender. At least in theory.

Interesting theory.

I have a couple of dozen of similar sheets (regulars, commemoratives, etc.) all OG and NH but with the circle cancel from Easton, PA.

My personal idea is that someone was friends with a post office clerk and if one is willing to pay for the postage stamps, the clerk will do almost anything to cancel the stamps if you request. Maybe just an oddity that somone thought was a nice addition to a collection.

Personally, it's not my way of collecting. Maybe I'll just break them up into blocks since they have no real value whether in block or sheet form, and blocks would be easier to store.

Is the gum original? Disturbed? Missing? That is part of the tale.

I could be slightly off on this process, but a stamp collector I know handles the business reply mail for his company, and when he pays cash for the amounts due, he has the clerk take an equal amount of postage out of the drawer and cancel it, and the collector takes them back as his receipt.

There could be a missing step in there, but the net result is that he has lots of sheets and sheetlets with cancels laid out similar to yours. We've debated whether his sheets are a postal usage or a revenue usage. He says they're postally used since they're paying postage, albeit not by being affixed to an envelope. Interesting theory...

C.

All original gum...post office fresh, except for the ugly cancellation through every block of stamps. I won't bore you with the pix, but the inventory with identical cancellation and original gum:

(20) Sheets of Scott #945...Edison...Sheets of 70
(8) Sheets of Scott #944...Kearney Expedition...Sheets of 50
(1) Sheet of Scott #809...White House (previously pictured)...Sheet of 100
(1) Sheet of Soctt #804...Washington...Sheet of 100
(1) Sheet of Scott #803...Franklin...Sheet of 100

I have heard of this also. I have also heard of this when they stopped using Postage Due stamps. It does make sense as a plausible explanation.

Nice little collection you got there. If I had that stuff I would probably auction it off at my local stamp club.

Smauggie means US.... er me, uhm us ya, us...