Anyone Doing The Same?

Yes, I do collect sock-on-the-nose cancels, but that's only part of what I do. I want to know if there is anyone else doing what I do.

What I DO do is collect stamps from every stamp-issuing entity on (or near) which I can identify the city/town/place of cancel. I call it my "Gazetteer Collection." If I get sock-on-the-noses, that's great...but not necessary.

For nearly three decades now I've not found another person doing the same thing. I sure would like to know if I'm not alone.

Misery loves company? Just kidding of course, but I believe we have a thread on this.

Peter

Peter is correct:
https://goscf.com/t/52995

You aren't alone. You also get an idea of cancel styles for different periods and have a reference for comparing against doubtful cancels you come across.

I've collected WW bullseyes for quite a few years now. I've gotten more selective on what I put in the collection by adding only postmarks that clearly include place and full day/month/year.
Small town bullseyes are especially appreciated.

Don

My choice for "best example" or album mounting is almost always full town name and date on the stamp.

I collect post marks. In addition I love classics with heavy cancel marks.

In general, so far, i'm not really alone -- according to your (plural) replies -- in the sense that others also collect postmarks.
Maybe I'm alone in my general aim --to get a postmark from every town in the world where postmarks were applied. That means I'll take 'em as beautiful bullseyes, but, I'll also collect ones that are just barely (but surely!) identifiable or messy until that holy-grail-bullseye comes along.
I also differentiate between the different entities that these towns may have been parts of. For instance, Bratislava has been a postmark on the stamps of Slovakia and Czechoslovakia and also as Pozsony on Hungary stamps and Pressburg on Austrians. Also differentiated: colonial & independent-country entities; spelling, spacing & punctuation variations in postmark names. In my 40 albums I mount every town in the pages of the country that it NOW is a part of (dozens of pages of places formerly on German stamps but now in a bunch of other present-day countries, for instance).
I crave the action of finding new ones every day! I can't abide looking at thousands of stamps and finding that perfect example only rarely.
There's certainly nothing at all wrong with that last approach -- going for the best is wonderful in itself. But I'm not that patient.

EdziuMM:

You may, indeed, be alone for the above goal. Nothing wrong it it, though. Best wishes for continuing success.

I am interested in how you group the smaller towns for mounting when the chances of finding more than one postmark from a town is low. Do you mount them by country, then town with multiple towns per page, or mount a single stamp on a page.

Could you explain you mounting scheme and show us a page or two from your albums?

Also, do you maintain an index to determine if you already have one or more cancels from a specific town and where in your albums they might be?

Thanks.

Don

I assume that any stamp issuing entity includes event special cancels? (Like a temporary cancelling station at a stamp show)? Even without the large number of these, this will be quite an undertaking.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are currently 19,354 "incorporated places" in the United States. But then you have to also count dead post offices over time; so let's say a total of 25,000 US post offices? Then when you add in the entire world I guess you better plan on some serious shelf space and a significant investment in binders and some kind of pages!


Don

Thanks for your comments...I really appreciate them. I'll post again later to answer your questions about organization, etc. after I get a chance to scan an album page, etc.
To prove how fanatic I am, since I posted my explanation last night I've added 5 postmarks to the collection: Enyiczke, Hungary (now Haniska, Slovakia); Whitford, New Zealand; Chelmek, Poland; and Roytvik & Liabygda, Norway. Total of the collection (at this moment): 69,687.
I know I can never get them all....

I've attached a pic of one the pages in my Gazetteer Collection of city/town/etc. postmarks. I made the template file myself so long ago that I no longer remember how to do it. There are now thousands of these pages in the 40 loose-leaf binders that hold my collection. The stamps are mounted on pages for the country where the place is now located. Towns on earlier entities get their own pages as forerunners of the current country (such as "Slovakia forerunner Czechoslovakia").
When a new page is needed I start by printing a blank-squares template. As I mount the stamps, I hand-write in the names of the places. When all 19 spaces have stamps for them, I print a new blank page, typing in the names of the places in alphabetical order and then I remount the stamps on the new page. Sometimes it takes years to fill a new page. My most recent? Colombia, which took over 3 years to fill (most of Latin America is tough).
Why do I put a star on some of the spaces? Because I've been there!
I have created a huge index on my computer. I ID where a stamp is with the first 3 letters of the 1st alphabetical entry on its page. Couldn't be done without a computer! Otherwise, I'd have to construct something like a real library card catalog. That's not for me.

I really like your collection and the fact it's such a usage based approach. I assume the cancel has to be on the stamp itself? Not on the envelope beside the stamp. Do post more pages. I'd like to see how you deal with places with different names and countries. I've really enjoyed this topic, and that's a mammoth collection with long way to go.

EdziuMM"

Very nice! Thanks for sharing your approach to cancel collecting.

Don

Thank you for your comments, Crispin & Don.
C: The full, readable name on one stamp is the ideal. If it's also a sock-on-the-nose cancel, that's the Holy Grail.
But I'm not patient enough to wait for those, although I'm always seeking them. As space-fillers, I will also collect partial (but surely identifiable) names on one stamp. names spread over more than one stamp, postmarks touching on or relatively near stamps, precancels, etc. But I keep looking for the ideals.
I look at it this way: I may never again see that less-than-ideal town I can surely identify now. The 5 new places that I added to my collection this morning are places I haven't found before in the 30-or-so years I've been doing this collection! How rare is that?
This approach is especially necessary with stamps of the United States. The vast majority of U.S. postal cancels (before nowadays' damnable spray-on cancels) were set up to put the dial/bull/circle to the left of the stamp. Thus, my ideal is not easy to find on U.S. stamps. The great majority of the 11,000+ I have, do not fit my ideal.
I've had many different kinds of stamp collections since I was a kid in the 1940's, but this one has provided me with more fun & satisfaction than any other. Hope you have as much fun with whatever you're doing!

Ed, I just sent you a PM. Congratulations on that rare cancellation you found: [url].https://digitaltmuseum.no/021016583...nes-rogaland[url]