Marker Monkeys And Other Stamp Crimes.

Believe it or not, it's crayon. Seems like a rather strange writing instrument for the USPS to keep on hand.

Must be the result of the budget cuts

well they have terrible aim then as they missed the postage completely and went for the bigger bit; the address! lol

I'm sure the writing instrument they are issued with is directly proportionate to their IQ

I just got some stamps in the mail from Canada. This time, it wasn't the marker monkey who got to it, but soemthing totally different. Could it be the weather monster? This thing looks like it's been dropped in water and stomped on. Still, I like the back of the cover!











Any ideas on what to do with the scrunched/wrinkled stamp? They're CTO so not that big of a loss but there are some which I would dearly love to keep. Would soaking be a good idea? Ironing?

My friends already make fun of me for ironing pillowcases.
I can't imagine what they would say if they heard about
ironing stamps!

Im just thinking about how to get rid of some of the wrinkles in the stamps. Would soaking CTOs be considered cheating or forgery to make them look like used stamps?

When I had worldwide more than I do now years ago I would soak every CTO I came across as I didn't like over-licking the hinges and finding out later the stamp had also stuck in the process. Never thought of licking less.

Sooooo, why not soak? What's the difference really? Whatever makes you happy is the thing to do.

I think I'm going to start soaking these CTO's. Now, about the cover. Should I store it in my album with the plastic bag like it originally came? I don't have many damaged covers in my collection!

The ugly cancellations and comments about crayon, etc., prompts me to post this stamp as an example:



One day recently I was at a small town post office. No one else was around and in conversation with the postal clerk, she showed me that they still have mounted to the wall at the back of their window a cancellation device of sorts. It's basically a wall mounted stamp pad with a narrow strip that when applied to a cover would result in the example shown above.

The device hadn't been used in years, and the one mounted to the wall in the post office was dried out, but I had never realized before all of the clever marking devices the post office used for cancelling stamps (at least before they were issued crayons or Sharpies.)

Well, I am not sure about keeping it in the plastic bag. I suppose that's the best idea though. Completes the story or adds to it. I have a Canada Post 'da,aged' bag but the envelope is gone now. Wish I had kept it.

The plastic bag is just clear plastic. No writing- nothing. I was just thinking about keeping the Canada envelope and the Oman post slip of paper. Actually it's supposed to be stuck to the back of the envelope but the powers that be didnt' do it. So, I've got a bit of a confusing problem. Should I attach it to the back of the envelope and trash the plastic bag; or keep them all together in the bag?

OK now I think keep the bag as that tells you in years to come which country it was damaged in and what kind of bagging or labeling they used.

Canada uses a clear bag but with the CP logo on it and printing on it. Very distinguishable from others.

This is just a clear polyurethane bag. No logo nothing. Just that slip of paper on the back of the envelope. I think I'll keep it but take it back to the US with me when I take my summer vacation. I've got my "Frankencollection" in 2 big Harris Citation binders and I'll stash it there. Oman is a small enough country as it is. So, something like this may be sought after later on! I just wonder whether the envelope was damaged in Canada (it was mailed right at the beginning of the strike) or when it reached here in the desert.