Some Interesting Precancels

Good morning -- I'm not a precancel collector so I'm really out of my element with these. I recently bought a big messy auction lot that captained a big box of precancels -- in addition to the usual bureau issues I found these "more different" ones. I suspect some of these may be box killer cancels but hopefully there are some "gems" here. Most of the precancels are probably going to go into my APS circuit books and I have a general question: how do most people price precancels? Any general rules as to value? I really don't want to get into the typing of them all, I'd rather have folks pick what they need and hopefully find some great cancels for their collections. And what about precancels on more valuable stamps and commemoratives? In addition to the precancels there are probably 2x as many perfins. I'm not even going to start on those...

Nice batch. A number of these are NOT precancels, they are parcel cancels. At least 6 I think. Others with catalogs at hand can let you know which ones. Being at work, having a catalog would probably not be a good thing (Ha!). Thanks for sharing.

I have my concept of pricing, but would probably start a long argument (still in price shock from a large auction firm catalog I received yesterday in the mail!).

My theory is to price the material as you would like purchase it at.

thanks PoStat - interesting. My problem is I have no idea what I would want to buy them at! I'm trying to decide what are going on to ebay and what is going in my APS books and which few I may keep.

southpaw,
Just at a quick glance, the Priest River, ID block is a box cancel, the Bi-Cent issues are box cancels.
If they have a Vertical line running down the cancel, as in the ones that are box cancels, you can pretty much figure they are box cancels. Most precancels have only horizontal lines or bars, that is, a line (bar) above and below the Town and State.
You have a couple double line electros precancels - Seattle, WA and Miami, Florida.
The majority of what you show is pretty common. .10c to 25c types. The North Portland, OR has a PSS Catalog value of .50c The Bellingham, WA has a catalog value of $1.00

When pricing precancels, you really need a catalog to figure out the eeww's from the aahh's. In precancels, it's more about the cancel than the stamp issue it is on.

I concur with Oregon's analysis. They are a fun group - thanks for showing. The perfins would be nice to see also!

Maybe this will help. I "X"'d out those that are NOT precancels. Don't discard those I've marked, as they are collectible, too, just that they are not precancels.

Thanks wt1 and Oregonian! That helps a bunch. I have a lot of double line electros - I just didn't scan them as I know about them. More questions: do precancel collectors collect multiples? Is value based mostly on type or town or a combination thereof? Coming from a "regular" stamp collector, I would think that the Warren PA on the 305 and the SF on the 399 would be desirable. Not so much with precancels huh?

I don't have any precancel catalogs (as there are many and they can be pricey), but I do know that there were no less than 18 different types of precancels from Warren, PA. Sure, the #305 may be a nice looking stamp with a precancel, but to non-precancel collectors the value of that stamp is actually diminished because of the precancel.

On the other hand, precancel collectors typically look beyond the stamp and study more about the specific precancel type shown, and then go on to acquire as many different denominations of a stamp with a given precancel. All of this often requires specialized catalogs and careful measurements to appropriately identify.

I don't think I'm cut out for precancel collecting!

southpaw,
As was stated before, it's more about the cancel than the stamp issue. The two main catalogs you need for precancels are the PSS Bureau Catalog and the PSS Town and Type Catalog. There are many other catalogs out there for those that really specialize in a particular State or Stamp Issue. BTW - New Precancel catalogs only come out about every 10-12 years. So it is'nt anything like Scott's Specialized catalog where catalog values fluctuate year to year. New PSS catalogs are supposed to be coming out soon - maybe chasa can elaborate.

The two PSS catalogs mentioned above [Bureau and Town&Type] will not be updated for a couple of years.
The next catalogs scheduled for publication are [a] Part 1 of the specialized Washington/Franklin [alphabetically A-thru-M] of all stamps in the 1908-1922 era. This will be a truly significant book, as the last time this era was covered for all states and towns was in 1940. This one will provide prices for every denomination of underlying stamp. and [b] the completely revised Bicentennial catalog - covering Scott#'s 704-715.

chasa,
I'm looking forward to the Washington Franklin Catalog.

When are they due out, roughly?

As to your question about collecting blocks: my extremely unscientific observation is that many collectors don't touch them unless that is their only hope of getting a particular precancel. (Based on seeing many ebay auctions that have a bunch of pairs and blocks grouped together for not much money - but going unsold.)

Then again, some collectors seem determined to accumulate every single copy of a certain town / state / precancel type / denomination that they can find and they would therefore probably be delighted to find a block, pair, etc.

So, I think overall they are less popular than for "regular" stamps, but as I said, there are some people out there ...

Jan: W/F catalog 4q2014 ?
Bicentennial: 1q2015 ?
I concur about blocks. No premium value except rare cases - experimental bureau's for one.

chasa,
A block like this one?