Little Help From Cancellation Specialists

Can anyone here figure out which town issued the cancellation on this #65?
The cancel date appears to be 1862.
Thanks,

Ann Arbor?

Here is a similar postmark from Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.

Linus

(image from ebay)

Using the search feature of Jim Forte's post office list on his website, there are 288 hits for the partial letter string of "RBOR", most being Harbor, fewer being Arbor, etc. This can be narrowed considerably by the symmetry of most devices and needing 6-8 letters leading in to the RBOR. A good clue is often damage ... in this case, note the lack of any damage to the rim, but the tail on the second R is shortened. Spacing between letters and the gap between the letters and the rim can also help. So try matching these characteristics to towns closer to you like Ann Arbor, Benton Harbor, etc. Being 1862, that eliminates the Confederate areas. But sometimes one has to be satisfied that not all cancels are absolutely identified.

Add: Your mark has 3 central slots for date slugs, Linus' cancel has 2, so it is not a match, but does show the general lay-out of symmetry to look for, etc.

I think I found a match in ebay. It has the same 3 lines for date.

Hmm! No xpert in U.S. cancels. Longer tail in the second R, the line in R's and B appears slightly thinner, and the ring itself appears a little thinner. But then again the hammer was 12 years younger than the one in original post.

Edit: added wording after younger.

Most recent cancel is 1859, note the perforated stamp.

It does appear to be a fairly close match to the original post. I'll bet it won't take many days for a clear 1862-dated Ann Arbor cancel to get posted here.

John, was there a census of dates of this cancellation/ hammer?, and others and where can one find them.

Mike

I don't collect Michigan, but I have no doubt that there are several Ann Arbor and Michigan specialists who will have an 1862 example to post. In general, there are very few census compilations for markings other than the basic EKU/LKU extent and ink color. Most city lists would be very boring, and the lack of year dates in many cancels after the civil war and into the 1870s often makes exact dating very challenging. Detailed listings of towns/marks that readily come to mind are those with fancy killers like the New York foreign mails, Waterbury and the Banknote-era blue cancels of Chicago.

Thanks for the followup John. Learning about hammers and rubber stamps, usage periods and dates is an interesting field no matter which country. I enjoy the information, education and discussions had with others here on SCF.

Will have to wait for somone to post that example.