Precancel Versus Used

Clearly, if a stamp has all or nearly all of its gum but has a cancellation mark, it's likely to be precanceled. But if there's no gum or the back has been damaged by rough handling, how can I determine whether a stamp is precanceled or postally used?
Thank you!

Are you actually referring to a "precancelled" stamp, which will have a preprinted cancellation of a set type, or a stamp "cancelled to order" (CTO) for sale to the philatelic market? I suspect you mean the latter. CTO stamps without gum can usually be distinguished from those that have gone through the postal system by the neatness and regularity of their postmarks, which are often at the corners.

WB,
Your question is so broad and general that it is impossible to build any coherent answer. Other than this post being in a precancel category, we dont know country, era, issue, etc. Without an actual example or two illustrated for us, I cant see how an accurate or meaningful answer can be generated as cancel and gum are independent aspects of most stamps. Each item should be evaluated on its own merits.
Please post some images to discuss. Thanks.

An image would be nice, but you can probably describe what you're referring to, as well.

"It says Grenada, it has Donald Duck on it, and there is a quarter of a cancel in one corner." That would be CTO, and any damage whatsoever would take a low-value stamp and reduce it to zero(ish) in most cases.

vs.

"It has a picture of Ben Franklin and it has two horizontal bars, with 'Buffalo, NY' between them." That would be a precancel.

There is a lot of confusion in this subforum, so just clicking other threads in the World Precancels forum won't necessarily give you an idea of what a precancel should look like, but if you quickly browse ten or twenty threads, you might get an idea.

Keep in mind that damage takes a heavy toll on a stamp's (monetary) value. You might still like it, or keep it as a space-filler until a better one comes along, and that's fine.

The general agreement among stamp collectors that I read and learned about (...and please correct me if I'm wrong) is that CTO's with or without gum are used/cancelled (doubtfully postally used), Pre-cancelled stamps with or without gum are used/cancelled (probably/most likely postally used).

W B Segal, there are many great answers waiting for you, but we need to know which and what you have in front of you.


The SCF image loader is easy to use.

As with most things philatelic, there are rules of thumb, and then there are exceptions.

Australia is one example of CTO stamps that are sought out by those who know:

https://goscf.com/t/76466

The issuing Country is the most important part of the puzzle and that is because CTO stamps were created to meet the massive demand from international and domestic collectors who wanted "used" stamps without the variability of actual mail usage. These stamps provided a steady, high-margin revenue stream, often marketed through official agencies to collectors worldwide. Russia/Soviet stamps are probably the most widely known example of this, but other Countries were also generating a lot of revenue this way.

Knowing the Country and era is the best clue along with the typical characteristics of having full original gum and a neat, often cornered, cancel.

Thank you all for offering advice. Right now, I'm looking at stamps from Bavaria (German States). The note in the Scott catalog says, "Used values of nos. 94-275 are for postally used stamps. Canceled-to-order stamps, which abound, sell for same prices as unused.
Here are photos of Scott # 202 and #205. How can I tell whether they're $0.25 or $2.00?

As both seem to have gum, CTO. Canceled to order (CTO) and Pre-Cancelled are not interchangeable. CTOs are to have no postal validity while Precancels have limited and specific postal validity.

Edit: Do not confuse "used" with valid for postal use and having performed some postal function. CTOs never perform a postal function (except to take money from collectors) while precancels are considered used, "canceled," by collectors both before and after performing a postal function.

So if they have gum but have cancellation marks, in my example, they would be worth $0.25 but if they have no gum, they are "used" and worth $2.00?

The question of whether or not you have CTO's or postally used examples is pretty much moot when the catalog value difference is negligible. CTO or not really comes into play when there are large premiums for postally used examples. 25 cents vs 2 dollars for hinged and rough examples does not matter. Either way they have minimum value.

Keep in mind that the .25 is just the catalogue minimum, which compensates a dealer for bothering to identify and stock it. In fact, most of the catalogue minimum stamps are worth much less than .25. As a general rule. There are some .25 stamps that are hard to find, and probably should catalogue for more.

Anytime that canceled or used matters, watch for indistinct cancel-like markings that could be faked, and watch for nice cancels that are dated after the period of expected use. A 1923 stamp with a nice catalogue value for used, but canceled in 1936, doesn't count. As a general rule.

Per the Michel catalog the genuine used price is only valid if the stamp has been expertized. This series of stamps is also known with backdated genuine postmarks, postmarks used for internal accounting (so not postally used), and forged postmarks.

While I have extensive literature on the stamps of Bavaria none of it has useful information on determining which postmarks are genuine and which are not. How the expertizers do it is a mystery.