Stamps Cancelled With Pen Squiggles

I once bought lunar new year stamps in Australia and mailed them to my self to gain the "used" status.

To my disappointment, I spent $15-$20 ( I was 16 at the time) on stamps to turn into used but then be canceled by pen squiggly lines. There are no dates or where it was canceled. It looked like a toddler accidentally drew over the stamps

First of all, has anyone experienced this in Australia? Second, is this considered a legal means to cancel a stamp?

Hi Cai168 & Welcome to SCF family.

Members from all around the world here have found the pen markings a total insult to stamp collecting and the PO workers that do this have been named "marker monkeys". There is a long thread about this in the main forum if you do a search you will find it.

Getting the stamps cancelled over the PO counter stops this as the "marker monkeys" hunter for uncancelled stamps in the mailing system to very legally destroy our treasures.

The pen cancel goes back to the 1st stamps ever made.

Yes it is legal.

Search this forum for "Marker Monkey"

It's legal and it is nothing more than mail vandalism, I was sent an envelope not so long ago (2016) with a set of 1966 navigators 40 cents to $4.00 (in Australia, as long as it has the proper currency it is still legal tender).

Anyway, I requested this from a stamp specialist friend as I wanted to have a commercial date stamp commemorating the 50 year anniversary of the first issuance of the stamp.

When I received the mail I was utterly shocked and livid, some (expletive) used a permanent marker and scribbled over all the stamps.

He sent a few envelopes and a parcel with a book I bought with more navigators on it, this time all went through with proper clear cancellations, I sent a set of the 50th year cancellations to a collector in the US.

Rob

I have some that have a hand written cancellations. They have the date and the initials. Really, really old ones (1800's) and I quite like them as a keepsake.

How about this for ruination
I bought a stamp book off ebay and the sender put these lovely stamps on the parcel. There's already a standard cancellation but some imbecile (!) has drawn a line all the way through

The revenue protection aspect is completely understandable, but the malicious act of destroying already cancelled stamps completely escapes me.

Me too, I've never even seen this sheet before it would have been lovely to keep.

I suspect that, as the actual stamps in the mini sheet were not cancelled, the package was picked out for attention. The monkey marker then went totally overboard with his actions.

Since 2015 I have seen very few of these cancellations... I have those two 1st class and one other 2nd class stamps done with the hand stamping tool. Perhaps there is an inbuilt rarity value to them due to lack of use or lack of interest on the part of postal workers