New, Free Online The Foreign Mail Cancellations Handbook

Nick Kirke wrote an article for the NY 2016 show issue of the USPCS Chronicle on his research into NYFM cancellations going back to 1845. It was the basis for the presentation he did at the show. Link to the article: http://chronicle.uspcs.org/PDF/Chro...50/21564.pdf

...and a pitch for the USPCS - if you're interested in 19th Century U.S. material - you should join!) http://uspcs.org

...and a pitch for articles in the Chronicle - if you have an idea for an article on any aspect of the U.S. 1861 issue, drop the section editor (me) a note. Don't worry about your writing ability. If you have the idea and the content, we can turn it into an article.

Thanks
Chip

Chip - that issue of the Chronicle is still behind the paywall. Stamperix will need to join the USPCS or wait another 4 years for issue to be free to the public. I also strongly encourage membership in the USPCS.

If it will tempt him to join, I'll send him a copy (if he sends me his email address).
Chip

4 years aren't such a long time :). I doubt I will join as there are so many philatelic organizations that wait for me to join that I have a whole list to work on. About the values I found an interesting comment here:
http://www.mrfancycancel.com/comments.html

But he only mentions the lower values and continues like "value goes up...". It ends with: "nice project for someone". As there are really many stamps you can find here with fancy cancels and especially NYFM, it would be a nice help to know the value range of the ratings by Cole and Weiss, just to be see how much you should spend for a single NYFM or fancy cancel stamp if you find one, or also, which stamp you should keep although it's quite damaged.

I know that for more experienced collectors the value becomes less and less important as you already have a feeling for your collection and new additions, but for a beginner-collector of fancy and NYFM cancellations, it would be a good help.

So I know the books by Cole, Weiss, Herst and others and see the ratings there. But about what values today we talk here?
"RRR" Rohloff
"III" Cole
"Rare/Scarce" Weiss

I guess we can't compare them really, but still there is a rating in all books and there are cancellations with a lower and with a higher rating and it must reflect some values.

In the NYFM book of Vlissingen / Waud I found a very interesting chapter which is about value and rarity (page 42).
http://www.collectorsclubchicago.or...ign-mail.pdf

They also say that it's the direction: rare >>> scarce >>> common. They give some pricing examples as well.

More information - new questions appear. When I look at Cole at his ratings, some get a "III" of the NYFM, and of course some of the Waterbury ones. When I look at auctions I rarely see NYFM cancels sold as such, but quite often Waterbury. So there seems to be more demand there.

How do the rare NYFM cancels (III in Cole or "rare" at Vlissingen/Waud and Weiss) compare from the demand and value to the III/rare Waterbury cancels? So were there much more NYFM cancelled stamps than Waterbury, or is just the demand for the Waterbury more?

First of all, the books discussed only look at NYFM cancellations on large banknote stamps. Nick would (and has) argued that the NYFM department was in place from 1845 and a study of these cancellations needs to be broader than previous students have covered. That said, rarity/pricing lists in the books mentioned are not that useful in pricing and individual example. Prices can vary greatly depending upon the quality of the strike, the stamp it's on, the condition of that stamp, and whether the rarity values assigned at the time are still accurate.

Nick Kirke sold all of his off-cover NYFM cancellations to concentrate on dated on-cover examples. Most of his collection was sold over two auctions by Schuyler Rumsey - some at NY 2016 and the bulk in a couple of following auctions.

Go to this link:
http://www.rumseyauctions.com/auctions

Look at auctions 68, 71, and 73. That should get you some real-world data.

On-cover examples are something else entirely in terms of prices. But here, prices can range from $60 to $60,000, depending upon "stuff," such as cancellation rarity, destination, condition, stamps, and more.

thank you very much, I looked there and at some other auctions with his sold stamps, and got an idea. And as you say, on-cover is something else. But I won't have many covers soon, as I am not spending much here, but more researching and doing some nice finds that have not been discovered by the other collectors.

So I concentrate on the single stamps and try to understand whether it's possible to get one day also one of the more rare NYFM stamps (finding or buying) or if it is like perhaps with the rare Waterbury ones that they sell for so much also on single stamps that you will never get any of them. If I look at the auctions and compare to auctions of Waterburys at Siegel, I would say it's possible to build a collection of NYFM cancels and also get some exceptional pieces one day, while at the Waterburys it's more an investment for those who really spend much. That's why I asked above how the III/rare rating of NYFM compares to the III/rare of Waterbury.

(just try to get a feeling of pricing still between the different kind of fancy cancels as you see)