1901 Pan Am Expo Cancels

Here are scans of Scott #294 and #295 from the above issue. The catalog suggests that on-cover with Expo Cancel commands quite a premium over the used values.





Unfortunately, I do not have them on cover nor are they complete cancels ... merely cut squares ... but would these have a premium value over the stamp alone?

Also, Scott Specialized shows an example of a machine cancel which does not show the triangle ... would that suggest that these are the "Expo duplex handstamp" cancel variety (although they don't look like handstamps)?

I'm not quite sure. In any case they will stay on paper. I found three (3) of each denomination ... all with the same on paper cut square that does not show a date, merely with the triangle "Pan American Exposition 1901."

Nice cancellations wt

I notice the #2 on one which makes me wonder how many machines were used with this particular cancel?

Interesting

Bujutsu

perhaps the #2 is on all, but just not visible because it was cut?

I think what you have is the most common exposition cancel applied by machine. A duplex hand cancel from that period would have a the date and city enclosed in a circle and adjacent to a little football shape. The cut squares show the cancel nicely but I don't think they would fetch a substantial premium over a used copy as again it is a common cancel and they are also very common stamps to begin with. Nevertheless I think they're nice pieces to have in your collection! Here is an example off ebay of a duplex hand cancel on an Expo cover:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1901-Pan-Americ...ht_979wt_917

Thanks. I never did think they'd be worth a fortune. However, the full cover with that cancel is going on auction sites for $100+, so I wws just checking. Oh, well, I guess I'm back to the $1 catalog value on these.

Will,
got the stamps. thanks.. the San Fran 1 has a very cool cancel..
I don't know how common that cancel is, I can't find any examples on ebay

Enjoy. Part of the fun of the ecclectic (sp ?) collection I have is that they were in boxes of material given to me and I often pull out material that's different; most are worthless, a few are great finds, but no matter, it makes the searching all that much more fun.

Maybe we can help
David

Bill,
got the letter. check your email.