Fancy Cancel (Head?) Port Henry NY

does anyone know this head fancy cancel?

There are a fair number of fancies that are not identified in philatelic references. All I have for the time period is US Cancels by Sol Salkind, and it's not listed there, but that is not a surprise. Maybe another SCF member has a New York postmark reference or collects Essex County.

The cancel strikes don't look alike at first glance, but overlaying the one on the envelope indicium, the eye, hair point and nose match relative position. The strike on the stamp is just badly smeared. Looks genuine to me.

Indicium strike colored white and overlaid on stamp strike.

thank you!!

the image remember me old greek pottery design
like this

up

I have no doubts the cancel is genuine.
But to take the other side of the discussion, it just isn't a "fancy cancel"
Nothing more than a daubed killer.

I beg to differ; I don't think this is the effect of pareidolia. A daub would be more shapeless; this is a round, probably wooden rod end that has been cut by someone. I'm confident that the eyehole is intentional; you might consider this a coincidental wormhole or somesuch which I have yet to see on Banknote and later issue stamps on cover or off. That "hole" is certainly not round. Not every postmaster/clerk was a fabulous knife artist or a meticulous carver for that matter, particularly in a small size used for a killer. Note the number of reversed numerals or letters that were actually used for a time and not rejected out of hand.

Believe what you will. We may have to agree to disagree. I would never pay any premium for this as a "fancy".

John,
While I agree with your sentiment about this particular cancel, a fancy cancel has actually very "loose" definition. And even the round, solid killers are technically defined as a fancy cancel. It doesn't mean that every "fancy cancel" warrants a premium for the cancel, and I agree this one isn't "attractive". But it doesn't preclude it falling into the fancy cancel definition.
One of the main things it is meant to differentiate from is a "pen" or "manuscript" cancel. Which this is not. So don't be too harsh on the definition of fancy cancel. Some are, certainly more fancy than others. My initial reaction was that the dot was coincidental to the embossing of the stationary, but then I noticed the other stamp also had the same feature. That said, I think this is just a broken cork. You can see any shape in it you wish, but it doesn't mean it's intentional (I'm sure I saw satan in the marble in my bathroom staring at me the other day).
But by definition... it is a fancy cancel.

Baloney!

Whose definition??

John and I will have to agree to disagree. If someone can find other Port Henry covers of about the same period/that postmaster's tenure (killers that weren't steel wore out rather quickly) with killers we both agree are fancy or not, it would be conclusive. You folks got any?

I am on John's side here on definitions. To me, fancies by definition should be artful or decorative. There are listings of "nonstandard" cancels (define that as you will) in fancy cancel reference books that appear to be included because nobody else bothered to record them in general cancel listings that emphasize town marks: for example, early machine cancels without anything pictorial, steel or rubber oval numeral killers. No way are those fancy to me, but they are often called "fancy". You might stop calling them that after you see page after page of shelves of albums of stamps with those type of cancels. One can collect what one likes but these are not very fancy at all.

ebay sellers as a group like to call anything they have a fancy cancel. To me, a solid circle shows zero effort to be anything other than a defacement to prevent reuse.

Definitions for fancy cancels abound and are kinda loose:

"But, how about all those other hand stamps that could have been used at the post office to cancel stamps? The term "fancy cancel" can be defined as any cancellation that is not a manuscript or CDS cancel applied to a postage stamp prior to the use of machine-applied cancels. Some collectors would argue that even manuscript and CDS cancels are fancy cancels. Others would argue that to exclude certain machine-applied cancellations is a mistake." Bruce Dangremond, January, 2012.

"The Fancy Cancels that we list on our iHobb.com website include some of the artistic high points of stars, cogwheels, crosses, pies, grills, concentric and bull's-eyes, plus some early, plainer cork cancels and a few pen cancels. These later examples are outside the range of what a purest would call a fancy cancel, but are of the era and we include them, priced accordingly." Bob MacLachlan | August, 2014.

As a long-time collector of pumpkin head fancy cancels, imo the OP's marking has quite a range of Rorschach-esque possibilities, but a 'head' can't be eliminated from the mix even though I find nothing that matches it in the several fancy cancel references in my personal library.

I like every opinion.
thank you all!

One I have followed from Mr. Fancy Cancel:
"What is a Fancy Cancel?

I've seen and discussed many definitions of what constitutes a Fancy Cancel.

My definition is: Any stamp with a cancel that gives it interest beyond the stamp itself. I really don't care if it's a pictorial cancel, a geometric, a number, a postmark or just a colorful blob. In fact I like socked on the nose circular date stamps."

So I tend to be both in the camp of Bruce Dangremond and Mr. Fancy Cancel. So to say "Baloney" to my description on the subject is backed by many others in the community... You're free to disagree, but how about some constructive discussion instead?

Classic, your definition makes nearly every cancel a "fancy cancel" which makes nothing special about any of them at all. To be all-inclusive dilutes the term "fancy cancel" to being virtually meaningless. It does not seem to coincide with the mainstream of "what is a fancy cancel" by cancel collectors, nor the value placed on items in the market place. Just because a cancel is interesting does make it fancy. Your definition is also NOT backed by many in the community, so I will remain in the disagree camp.