Cape Of New Hope To US

Hi after centuries..

do you know if this postmark "Elwood Station" es common or not?

Regards from Argentina

Luciano.

Hi Luciano,

The Elmwood cancel is not common at all, though not particularly rare either. I do not have a copy of this particular variety but I have a couple of copies of a more common variety of this cancel. In 1879 the postal rules were changed to note that it was required that the post office that received a piece of mail must place a receiving postmark on the envelope to show when it was received. The New York cancel was a transit cancel, common for mail incoming from foreign nations.

This is an American machine received cancel. I don't have a catalog at this time but it was placed a machine designed to cancel large amounts of mail. This type of cancel was in use from (roughly) 1900-1920.

And it is Cape of Good Hope.

Fred Langford's Flag Cancel Encyclopedia, 4th ed, lists Elmwood Station having an American Postal Machines Company "flag cancel" from 1900-1913, rated at 3 points (on a 100-point scale), which is extremely common. The clerk would have removed the flag killer frequently and inserted the oval "received" service slug to mark the incoming mail. The Machine Cancel Society's specialized study #10, "American Service Markings", published in 1991, lists the received mark as known from 1899-1906, (although I doubt 1899 use) and a rarity of "B", which is "common" and a value of $1-$3. Regardless of the supply, demand is modest.

The challenge of collecting received postmarks for any given city is finding them. Dealers mostly sort covers by the origin state or franking rather than the destination state, thus requiring a complete search of their stock to examine the destinations.

I have never seen an American received cancel from the 19th century. Perhaps there were a few test strikes.

jaja sorry, yes I put "New hope", I like Star Wars too..

Thaks for the answer,


Luciano

The reason I doubt 1899 use: Langford notes that the name of Station A changed to Elmwood Station in the spring of 1900, this would make 1899 Elmwood station marks impossible. The 1899 date in the Service Marking book must be incorrect. Pre-1900 American machine receiving marks from other towns are fairly common.

I should really get my hands on that catalog.