Eureka, Humboldt Co., CA Postmarks

I'm new to collecting covers and am hoping for a little expertise. I received two post cards with the following postmarks.






Using the book California Town Postmarks 1849-1935 these look to me like HUM-1890. The dates are out of the usage range, preceeding the EKU by almost 2 years.

The sizes are 20mm 7L (could be 6L), but the no minutes in the time stamp and there is a curved mark under the P of PM matching HUM-1890.

Questions,

Did I make a mistake?
If not, is it unusual to find dates out on known range?
Is there somewhere that is keeping updated information for this book that I should submit to?

Thanks in advance!

Ron

What you show are the dial portions of the International Postal Supply Co's machine cancel (Model L machine). There are wavy bars off to the right, which do not show in your scan. One of the Machine Cancel Society's publications notes Eureka used a machine cancel like this 1908-1916, so a long range, which yours is in the middle.

I have no idea what HUM-1890 looks like as I do not have the California book.

Hi telchar and
I think that your identification of Hum 1890 is correct, they look like it to me. Here is the Williams tracings and listing for that period. Notice the long period of no recorded post mark dates for Hum 1870, the previous daily postmarking device?



Humboldt County has a small population, and isn't what could be called highly sought after, so it is not uncommon to find large gaps in the usage dates. Also, the book was published in 1997, and a lot of collections have changed hands since, so we are seeing materials that have been stored away for a while.
The Western Cover Society was keeping track of the updated EKUs and LKUs. As I actively collect this county, I'll add your new EKU to my files. Thanks.

With the year date cast into the dial's rim, you will likely find a slightly different dial (in the spacing of the rim lettering) for each year of the International's use - thus up to 9 different dials between 1908 and 1916. (Add: Although in reality the machine makers soon learned to drill-out the last digit and replace it, so many towns alternated dials between the even and odd years)

It is unfortunate the author chose to omit the killer portions of these postmarks (his notes column is just not adequate for this), but that is a shortcut taken by many postal histories. Nor do tracings have the accuracy of real scans, so all tracings should be taken with a grain of salt.

As a side note, one will notice that HUM-1910 is the Universal machine that comes with wavy lines or various slogans, which the author does not list in detail. Thus the advantage of joining the Machine Cancel Society.

There is a small section of marking types in the introduction (4 bars and Elliptical) but it is also inadequate.
I would love to see the work redone with scans. I agree the notes column is inadequate.
The tracings and listing were published in the Western Cover Society's quarterly "Western Express" for years while Williams compiled all his data.

My main complaint about the inaccuracy of tracings vs scans (and the omission of killers) is most easily seen with the Mobile Post Office Society's huge RPO catalog filled with beautiful circular rims around every marking, yet many rims were bent or nicked or dented or broken by the date of the example traced - progressive damage to the device over time - leading to difficulty in true matching AND errors in the listings. I have been told it is too big of a project for them to replace the tracings with scans. I know of one RPO device which got a replacement killer midway through its use. Does that make it a new device? I think so.

Thanks for the help! It is a facinating field of study.

John, do you have specific recommendations for literature? My interest is primarily California and Colorado if that helps.

Ron

It may be a smaller project that they think, I've got over 500 scans of postmarks from two counties that I'd share. Finding a project director would be key. But there isn't that big of a demand. I think that Leonard Hartmann is still selling the first printing of 450 sets.

telchar, Most state or local postal history students will find the major state texts list the opening and closing dates of the offices and perhaps the postmasters. Few books will show extensive postmarks and their known date ranges. To have a California book which makes an effort to document the early postmarks is a great starting place. Larger towns get better coverage in the literature. Have you seen John Mahoney's "San Francisco Postal Markings, 1847-1900", LaPosta Monograph Series Volume 8, 1992? And don't overlook city studies from other states to use as models for what to look for in CA or CO. Len Piszkiewicz's Chicago study valuable for any city collector.

Much of the next group of books cover a specific time period or type of marking across the entire US, such the as American Stampless Cover Catalogs, the Mobile Post Office Society catalogs on Railroad markings, the American Airmail Society volumes, the Machine cancel Society volumes on each machine manufacturer, etc. It can get expensive to purchase these references for the few pages for a given state. Also don't overlook auction catalogs - the Schuyler Rumsey sales have had considerable coverage of western states in recent years. Local postal historians are largely writing their own book as they go along.

Thanks John!

My catalog of Colorado postmarks to 1900 may be found as a PDF file on my website here:

http://www.rfrajola.com/catalogs/co...doto1900.pdf

Thank you Richard!