Help With These Cancellations (Ferry, Parcel, Stock, War?)

Hello,

I found all these nice cancellations I find very interesting. As I am not sure about any of them, I ask you about your opinions!

1: some "X" or other letters?
2: a "war sign" - was this used in war?
3: was this used on a ferry, and which ferry?
4: I read "Kerr Steampship Con...", so were these two also used on a ship?
5: can't figure out the second overprint?
6: haven't seen that "parcel post" as cancellation, only as own stamps?
7: probably a precancel or a parcel cancellation? perhaps Burlington?

many open questions, but also many nice cancellations :) !

stamperix

#2 is a cross formee from a duplex cancel from the late 19th or early 20th century.

(2) "Fancy Cancel" from 1880s, sometimes referred to as Double-line Maltese Cross

(3) IS a ferry cancel, maybe San Francisco, CA

(4) Neat Steamship Company cancels!

(6) Definitely a Parcel Post cancel - many packages used stamps and were canceled for Parcel Post usage

(7) Scarcer Burlington, VT Precancel

You can look up the US fancy cancels here (Shaded cross)
http://www.stampsmarter.com/feature...ls_Type.html
Don

Well, using the term "fancy cancel" for stamp #2 does not really meet my definition for a fancy cancel. To me fancy cancels are carved cork cancels. When the cancel is a duplex cancel with a geometric killer I don't see it as being in the same class. Not everyone will agree with me of course.

Agree, there is no consensus on the term 'fancy cancel'; after struggling with the definition I finally gave in and use it inclusively.

But note that 'carved cork only' would exclude a lot of very 'fancy' commercially produced cancellers.
Don

I suppose there is plenty of room to interpret what constitutes a fancy cancel. I tend to be a bit more liberal than some others.

However, I would argue that some duplex killers are generally considered to be a fancy cancel, such as the "kicking mule" from Port Townsend, OR and at least 3 other towns, even though it is a manufactured and not carved cancel.

Thank you gentlemen for your responses. As much as I detest using loosely defined terminology it seems there is no easy answer to how to define a fancy cancel.

Thank you all.

(1) and (5): Will make a better photo or scan, as this is difficult also with loupe.

(2) I am no fancy cancel expert, but I can at least add here that this cross does not appear perfect under loupe, more handmade.

(3) Yes, it seems to be San Francisco - I just thought that this cancel was typical for a specific ferry, but probably not.

(4) So it's a company cancel, or was it on a ship?

(7) If anyone knows the type, will be glad.

1 - A revenue stamp, thus a fiscal cancel, not a postal cancel. Only a small portion of it shows, so much more difficult to identify the entire wording.
2 - The killer is considered a fancy cancel by most collectors. Not handmade, but mass produced and used in many towns. Being made of rubber, they often show some distortion with age which might give a hand made appearance.
3 - San Francisco, CA, Ferry Station. No connection to any specific boat, just a station name.
4 - Private companies could carry mail if the postage was paid. Not common, but most often found on mail relating to transportation companies, such as these two, where it appears they used the rubber stamp normally used for imprinting the company name on other forms as an unofficial cancel device. These two may indeed have been on a boat. A nice find!
5 - Diagonal marking provides the company initials and a date, required on higher denomination precancels.
6 - stamp used on a parcel, canceled by the parcel post clerk.
7 - Has a hint of being a local precancel, Burlington, VT type L-1, but the length of the city seems too long and the "VT" is spaced too low. The 1 cent stamp is the 3rd class mail rate of that era, so undated and non-standard cancels are more common. If not Type L-1, then still very likely a local device used provisionally as a precancel.

Thank you John, this was really interesting an helpful. Now I know much more about my stamps. About the Kerr Steamphip I will do further investigation, that's interesting.

I made now better photos of (1), (5) and (7), if that helps anyone in getting new information about them? At (1) I don't get a word out of it, at (5) there seems to be a bird at the right? And (7) still is a question for me if this is a known precancel type which could be found in the catalogue.

FERRY

Author : Mr. Blair Stannard, Canada.

The SF Ferry House (1898 - )

Opening in 1898 on the site of the 1875 wooden Ferry House,
the Ferry Building became the transportation focal point for
anyone arriving by train from the East, as well as from all the
East Bay and Marin residents who worked in the city.

From the Gold Rush until the 1930s, arrival by ferryboat
became the only way travelers and commuters=97except
those coming from the Peninsula=97could reach the city.

The architect's original proposal was for an 840-foot-long
building. However, when the construction estimates came
in for the foundation (of pilings and concrete arches) the
actual length had to be reduced to 660 feet by removing
planned twin entrances at either end.

As it was, Brown's foundation=97which has supported the
entire steel-framed structure in such a remarkably
dependable manner through two earthquakes (1906 and
1989)=97became the largest such foundation for a building
over water anywhere in the world.

Brown included a 245-foot-tall clock tower modeled after
the 12th century bell tower in the Seville Cathedral in
Spain to serve as a welcoming beacon on the Bay.
Construction was started in 1896, and the Union Depot
(trains) and Ferry House=97quickly shortened by public
use to the Ferry Building=97received its first scheduled
arrival in July 1898. Passengers off the boats passed
through an elegant two-story public area with repeating
interior arches and overhead skylights. At its peak,
as many as 50,000 people a day commuted by ferry.
(what better place for a Post Office?)

The opening of the Bay Bridge in 1936, and the Golden
Gate Bridge in 1937, along with mass use of the
automobile, rendered the daily commute by ferryboat
obsolete. (No longer a need for a post office)
By the 1950's, the Ferry Building was used
very little. However, in the 1990s it was restored as
a market and office space.

Blair

4 - Outside of the mail uses:

The regulations are published in the Postal Law and Regulation volumes. The 1932 and 1940 volumes cover it in sections 1710, 1713, and 1714. The 1948 volume covers it in Part 91. Beecher and Wawrukiewicz also cover these uses in chapter 1 of their "U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-1999"

Here are two additional examples, canceled by the mailer, which is the primary tip-off to such uses.

Thank you Rod and John again. That's all interesting, and I will for sure read more about these kind of cancellations. Still it would be good to know if anyone could read anything out of the last three photos I gave above, and especially about the precancel, but perhaps I will post just this one under SCF precancel forum again.

The stock transfer stamp cancel might not tell you anything useful. I see a large capital "A" which could easily be part of something mundane like "PAID".

11c Liberty: (A?)MO[space]A(?)(?)[space] followed by fragments.

The 1c blue has a straightline BOSTON, struck over weak partial strikes. Roller cancel/precancel, perhaps?

EDIT:


Exactly so. There is a Loso-Dewindt catalog of 20th Century fancy cancels and they included quite a few that were just non-standard.

ok that precancel seems to be a very difficult one :). I actually read more something like "BURLINGTON" under loupe... especially as the second line seem really to be "VT". That's what is nice at stamps - it's sometimes a big mystery.