Anarchy Postmark, 1883

Lots of assumptions in this thread.

We do not know if the same person stuck these.
We do not know if the device was inked on every strike.
We do not know if there were covers stacked when the strikes were done.
We do not know the force used to strike them.
We do not know if this is 1 or 2 separate devices.
We do not know if the device has been modified.
Don

If you carve your canceller out of the end grain of a suitable wood such as Boxwood, Cherry, Holly. you can make extremely fine detailed printing blocks that can in the hands of a craft printer make millions of impressions. I read this when the were doing an exhibition of the works and tools of Bewick a 19th century engraver. Nowadays Lucite is a better material (Acrylic) but postal clerks were probably not bothered to much about artistry they would want something that didn't need reinking every few strikes and would last at least a month or two.

Don, I at least tried to show my line of reasoning. You did not.



By the great similarity in strength, inking and positioning, I think it's the same person very much more than not. If you mean knowing exactly, we will never know that exactly.


By the great similarity in ink quality and inking, it is highly likely it had to be inked with every strike.
The ink used here is thin (read: cheap) relative to what is on a lot of 1847-51 issues and is also grayish and not intense black. It is not oily enough to carry a lot of black pigment in it to allow multiple Clear strikes. Try this with a rubberstamp and thinned ink or a dryish old ink pad. Same situation. Someone cancelling stamps would quickly realize this canceller had to be reinked every strike if they expected a clear townmark. The townmark strikes are not perfect here, but on other covers, clerks/postmasters could be pretty sloppy. One does not gently roll the canceller on a cover, it is struck and struck pretty hard and quickly. That person would be wasting time by taking their time and also wasting time by having to restrike poor cancels, if that mattered to them. By their neatness, it looks like the clerk did care.


The great similarities in duplex strikes as noted above make this doubtful. This method is not useful in any time period. in the 1860s, you still had a lot of wax seals on cover backs; the stack would get too high with a just few covers like that. There is a great variety of sizes of lettersheets and envelopes. The ideal, it is clear, was always to provide a record with town and date. That's hard to do if the stack keeps slipping. Today, you can cancel a stack of Christmas cards with (say) an MPP, but that is easy because they are uniform, provide a fairly hard surface and are uniformly flat, plus are the same size.


Looks pretty similar to me.


If you mean the whole duplex cancel, by the nick in the circle mentioned, that identifies the townmark as being the same one without question on all 3 covers.


Explain this please; I don't understand.

PS. I know you don't like long-winded replies but sometimes they are necessary.