West German Cancelled To Order Stamps?

CTOs make more sense now than ever. If one collects more than a couple countries or so, keeping up with mint new issues can get cost prohibitive in a hurry. At the same time, finding postally used copies is getting more and more difficult as well. CTOs would be a good way for collectors to fill in those gaps without going bankrupt.

Can someone tell me the difference between a CTO stamp cancellation and a 'favour' cancellation? Thank you.

Larry

In essence, it is the same. 'CTO,' normally, is used for general stamping of unused stamps that are sold to the general public. 'Favour cancellation,' frequently, is used for any cancellation requested by a single customer.

You might buy a sheet of stamps and ask the clerk to cancel them. Those would be indistinguishable from CTO. You, also might stick them on a piece of decorated paper you printed and ask the clerk to cancel those. Those, generally, would not be called CTO, although that is what CTO means.