Dates On Precancels

I'm just starting to organize a box of precancels that I have been accumulating for ages. I'm starting with the bureau issues and after 2 hr. I'm already confused. The question I have is, can bureau issues have dates? Here is a pic of two I have.

Hi uouo77, and yes, they can! The first one you show was used by Sears, Roebuck & Co (SRC), the second one by Montgommery Ward (MW). These dates were applied by the company in question as an accounting method.

Peter

THanks Petert4522. This answers a big question. Now I can get on with the sorting

Dates: in 1938 the POD, concerned with precancel cheating/abuse, ordered that users of denominations above 5 cents put their initials and month/year of use on the stamps. These dates could be hand-written, hand-stamped (like your SRC), or printed (like the MW) - obviously big companies used big plates to overprint sheets at a time.

The rules and descriptions of dating precancels evolved a bit between the original announcements in the Postal Bulletins of March 15 and 22, 1938 (PB#17396 and 17401) and the Bulletins of June 8 and 28, 1938 (PB#17456 and 17470).

The cut-off is "above 6 cents", rather than 5 cents as noted above. Here is how the wording came out in the July 1, 1939 annual Postal Guide:



And here is how it appeared in the July 1, 1947 Postal Guide, which explains why there are denominations of 6 cents and below with dates and initials:



Some collectors seek every combination of user/month on every denomination used.

Great Infomation!! Thanks.

This area is a great branch of Precancel collecting called "PRINTED DATED TYPE" precancels. For those interested, the Precancel Stamp Society has published the Printed Dated Control Type Precancel Catalog, (2004) http://www.precancels.com/publications/


Hal