US Airmail Precancels

I am looking at a book about US precancels and it contains the following statement:
Is this correct, or is there some technical distinction I'm missing? Because I've seen precancel blocks of C1 and C2. I collect US airmail stamps and covers, and am wanting to add precanceled airmail stamps to the collection. Besides the precanceled varieties of C1, C2, C78 and C79, are there any others?

TIA.

Basil

I may be wrong, but I beleive that statement is true. During that time frame. The only way to get those precancelled items was on a Congressional piece of mail. Other airmail items were cancelled in the past, but not for congress use.

I think the statement may be correct in the context of "Bureau" precancels, however, there were local precancels made for other US Airmail issues as in the example shown below (currently for sale on eBay):



Of course, some of these could have been "favor" precancels.

Basil, the statement is correct about bureau precancels - those precancelled at the same time the stamps were printed. Many airmails were precancelled in the local post offices. Most of the old ones, pre-1940, were actually used on mail. The best available data show Scott C1 - 241 different varieties, C2 - 216 different, C3 - 154 different. I have quite a few available, email me off-site. They are a lifetime persuit, and mostly reasonably priced.

Well, perhaps that is what was meant, but that is not what was said (e.g., "These were the only airmail issues that were ever Bureau precanceled.")

I wondered about that distinction ("Bureau precanceled") myself. On further research, I find that there are two definitive catalogs by the Precancel Stamp Society (PSS), one for "Bureau" precancels, and one for "Town" precancels. So the statement is correct insofar as the C78 and C79 were "Bureau" precancels. Incidentally, I guess this is the inference to be drawn from that fact that the C78 and C79 precancels have Scott designations -- C78b and C79b -- whereas earlier town-type airmail precancels do not. So that clears that up!

However, there is still a bit of confusion over reading this:



Note what I've underlined in red, as well as "Figure 31." What is being said here? The most natural way to read it (so it seems to me) is that there were four precancels: three "Bureau" and one "local." So what's being illustrated in "Figure 31?" The three Bureau precancels? I'm not so sure about that. According to Scott's US Specialized catalog (I'm reading p. 373 of the 2013 edition), the C78b precancel came in two variations: the one depicted by either of the C78 precancels in "Figure 31," and a less common variation with "DC" only. From my reading of Scott, there were only two Bureau precancels, although the first (C78b) came in two varieties, one with "Washington, D.C." and the other with just "D.C." Are those the "three" Bureau cancels the writer is talking about? But if so, what is being depicted in "Figure 31?" The two C78 precancels both have "Washington, D.C." EDIT: I originally missed the fact that the two C78 precancels are not the same! E.g., one has "D.C." and the other "DC." So pictured are the two varieties of C78b.

While questions remain, I think I know enough for now. I already have a nice block of the C79b precancel. So I guess my quest is now for examples of the C78b precancels, at least the "Washington, D.C." variety, and the "D.C." variety if the cost is not prohibitive.

Thanks for the replies.

Basil

Basil, Those are the only airmails to be issued by the "Bureau" the local issued by DC PM. The 3 "Bureau's" are being shown. Not the local! These are essentially Official Issues since the general public could not use them.

MAy I suggest that figure 31 is showing the "three" different cancels. The first two are the "Bureau" versions and the 3rd is the "Local" version

The local Washington, DC, Congressional precancel is in the lower right corner.



The most obvious difference is the spacing of "D.C." and the font size.

Regards, Robert

Don't think so: the third is a different stamp altogether, i.e. a variant of C79, not C78.


Okay, I think I get it now: the "local" precancel is a variation of C72 (not the C78 or C79 depicted in "Figure 31"). But why distinguish this one from other local airmail precancels, such as the C1 and C3 precancels I've seen, or the C33 wt1 illustrates? Because it was the only local "Washington, D.C." precancel?

I'm learning a lot here; thanks for all the replies.

Basil

The precancel (the black overprint) is independent of the underlying stamp. The Precancel Stamp Society classifies these precancels as types 71 (Bureau), 81 (Bureau) and 821 (local). When applied to these particular airmail stamps (Scott C72, C78 and C79) they are known as the Congressional airmail precancels, because they were produced at the request of Congress.

Hope this helps, Robert

The clarifications are correct. Figure 31 shows the 3 'congressional' bureau precancels. They only come on those 3 denominations. The big picture shows PSS 821 in the lower right. That comes on many denominations, airmail and regulars. There are 21 different precancel 'styles' from DC. Only a few of them were used on airmails.

I'm having trouble reconciling these two replies:







Taking the second first, Figure 31 does not show "3 denominations." It shows two denominations: two of C78, and one of C79. The "big picture" shows a C72 in the lower right. But I do see in the bottom row what I think is being described in the first response: 3 "congressional" bureau precancels, in three denominations: Type 71 on C78, Type 81 on C79, and Type 821 on C72. However, this is not consistent with what the original writer was saying, which I nevertheless think I now understand.

Taking the first sentence:



This refers to what is illustrated in Figure 31: Type 71 on a C78, Type 81 on a C78, and Type 81 on a C79. This statement does not include C72 among the three Congressional precancels, since C72 doesn't fall within the 1971-74 time period. Rather, the C72 precancel is referred to implicitly in the writer's next statement:


This is referring to the C72 precancel.

Which just leaves one question. Trainwreck says that the 3 Congressional Precancels were C72, C78, and C79. The writer I'm citing says they are two variations of C78 and C79.

So, was C72 a "Congressional" precancel, or not?

Basil

In answer to my last question, I found this on another forum:


So I guess the answer could be "Yes." But, that would technically mean that there were four congressional precancels, not three: the local Type 821 on a C72, the two C78's (Type 71 and 81), and C79 (Type 81).

I think I understand it now. (Whew!)

Basil

Did somebody say C78b?

I've got this 'little' block:



Apparently the "DC" version is more valuable, but I hadn't seen too many blocks this size, so grabbed this one with the "D.C." version at a club auction a while back (I think...).

Al