On mail, a cancellation (or cancel for short) is a postal marking applied to a postage stamp or postal stationery indicating that the item has been used. Mail, or post, is a method for transmitting information and tangible objects wherein written Documents typically enclosed in Envelopes and also A postal marking is any kind of annotation applied to a letter by a postal service A postage stamp is an adhesive paper evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item such as an Envelope, Letter sheet, Post card, lettercard aérogramme or wrapper with They are to be distinguished from overprints, and, in the case of the British "Occasions - Multiple Choice" stamps, from the ticking of boxes on the stamps with a pen for which the stamps call. An overprint is the addition of text (and sometimes graphics to the face of a Postage stamp after it has been printed (although some overprints are solely in the Selvedge [1] Modern cancellations are often applied simultaneously with a postmark, for efficiency, and commonly the terms "cancellation" and "postmark" are used interchangeably, if incorrectly. A postmark is a Postal marking made on a letter, Package, Postcard or the like indicating (The confusion arises because of the practice of some postal administrations of applying the postmark directly on the stamp, at the cost of legibility. )
The term "killer" is sometimes used as a more vivid synonym.
A cancellation intended solely to prevent reuse of a stamp is sometimes called an obliteration.
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History
Postage stamps were introduced in 1840 and thereafter immediately engendered a need to clearly indicate that the stamp had done its service. A postage stamp is an adhesive paper evidence of pre-paying a fee for postal services Year 1840 ( MDCCCXL) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year
Many early cancellations were pen cancels, simply the use of a writing pen to deface the stamp, but before the days of ball-point pens, these took longer to apply than a handstamp, and most postal administrations required the use of cancellation devices, either supplied by the administration, handmade by the postmaster, or purchased from specialized suppliers. In Philately, a pen cancel is a cancellation (either of a stamp of postage-due label) done with Pen or marker, although perhaps misleadingly A pen (Latin pinna, feather is a Writing instrument used to apply Ink to a surface usually Paper. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a Craft in which some type of Ink made of Dye or Pigment is applied to an Image Handmade cancels were typically carved from cork and are known in a bewildering variety of creative designs, collectively known as fancy cancels. Cork material is a Prime-subset of generic cork tissue, harvested for commercial use primarily from the Cork Oak tree Quercus A fancy cancel is a postal cancellation that includes an Artistic Design. Pen cancels may still occasionally be seen (sometimes done with marker), typically when a postal clerk notices that a stamp has not been touched by the automated machinery (though there have sometimes been complaints by stamp collectors of redundant pen cancels by overzealous postal employees).
In the early period of the issuance of postage stamps in the United States a number of patents were issued for cancelling devices or machines that increased (or were purported to increase) the difficulty of washing off and reusing postage stamps. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A patent is a set of Exclusive rights granted by a State to an inventor or his assignee for a fixed period of time in exchange for a disclosure of an These methods generally involved the scraping or cutting-away of part of the stamp, or perhaps punching a hole through its middle. (These forms of cancellation must be distinguished from perfins, a series of small holes punched in stamps, typically by private companies as an anti-theft device. A perfin (a contraction of 'PERForated INitials' also called SPIFS (a contraction of 'Stamps Perforated by Initials of Firms and Societies' is a pattern of tiny holes ) See postage stamp reuse. In the earlier days of the Postage stamp, postal officials worried much about the problem of postage stamp reuse, and invented a number of schemes to mark or deface the stamps
United States patent number 6672623, "Modification of receiver surface to reject stamp cancellation information," is "a method and apparatus for [placing a] protective coating is over the. . . image area [of personalised postage with the personalised image] such that official cancellation mark placed over the second area will not permanently adhere to the personal image. "[2]
Types of cancels
"Used" stamps that have received cancellation in the course of mail service often are more highly valued than "cancelled-to-order" stamps, in which the stamps themselves have been cancelled for the benefit, or at the behest of, collectors, yet have not gone through the mail. A cancelled to order (CTO Postage stamp is one that has had its cancellation applied by the issuing postal administration before being sold to Stamp collectors
Stamp collectors like to see stamps which are either lightly cancelled or which have bulls-eye cancellations. Stamp collecting is the Collecting of Postage stamps and related objects such as covers (envelopes or packages with stamps on them Another phrase for 'bulls-eye cancellations' is socked on the nose (SON). Socked on the nose ("SON" also called Bullseye cancel, in Philately, refers to a cancellation of a Postage stamp in which the
A lightly cancelled stamp would have the postmark on a corner or small portion of the stamp. As lightly cancelled stamps are in general more valuable than heavily-cancelled (exceptions, discussed below, may be bulls-eye cancellations and special or rare postmarks), collectors have at times rubber-stamped (or handwritten) "philatelic mail" or the like on their covers to get the postal clerk or mail processor to cancel the stamps lightly. (It was perhaps from concern that a conventional cancellation device would damage some of Tonga's early foil stamps that a rolling cancellation device was employed. )
A bulls-eye cancellation is a readable postmark which entirely or almost entirely is on the postage stamp. They are favored by stamp collectors because one can see the time, date, and location where the stamp was used. The prevalence of bulls-eye cancellations varies considerably by country and time period.
Cancellations may either be applied by hand or machine. Hand cancellation is often used when sending unusually shaped mail or formal mail (e. g. , wedding invitations) to avoid damage caused by machine cancellation.
The United States Postal Service regulations prohibit the use of slogans or pictorial material in regular hand-stamped cancellations (whether with or without killer bars). [3]
First day of issue of a stamp or piece of postal stationery is another type of cancellation. The first day of issue is the day on which a Postage stamp, Postal card or Stamped envelope is put on sale within the country or territory of the
There are railway post office cancels, ship cancels, and highway post office cancels.
In the United States, while cancellations are nearly universally applied by the authority of the United States Postal Service, it is legally possible to use one's own cancellations on a letter bearing United States postage stamps — if the letter is delivered by the sender, its employee (in the case of a company) or by a private delivery service following the requirements of the "Private Express Statutes". The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The Private Express Statutes (or PES) are a group of United States federal civil and Criminal laws placing various restrictions on the carriage Private cancellations have also been used in the context of local posts and applied to artistamps by their makers. A local post is a Mail service that operates only within a limited geographical area typically a City or a single transportation route An artistamp (a Portmanteau of the words "artist" and "stamp" or artist's stamp refers to a Postage stamp -like artform Private cancellations have actually been used in Germany. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Private cancellations are to be distinguished from private overprints. Private overprints in Philately, are Overprints (pictures text or a combination of the two usually rubberstamped though occasionally applied by some
Pictorial cancellations
In addition to everyday cancellations there are pictorial cancellations, which as the name suggests contain pictures or images associated with the commemoration of an event or anniversary. Some people attempt to use stamps relating to the theme of a pictorial cancellation on the envelope. [4] In Japan, distinctions are drawn between "Scenic Cancellations" (Fukei-in), "Small Commemorative Datestamps" (Kogata-in), "Large Commemorative Datestamps" (Toku-in) and "Illustrated Hato Datestamps" (Eiri-hato-in). For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. [5]
In the United States a distinction is drawn between special cancellations, in which the killer is a slogan, usually encased in a rectangular box, and pictorial cancellations. [6] There are regulations pertaining the special cancellations. [7]
The term "pictorial cancellation" is sometimes used, loosely and perhaps technically incorrectly, for slogan cancellations, which contain some sort of commemorative phrase in addition to the regular format of the cancellation.
In the United States, official pictorial cancellations are almost invariably applied at special "stations" (post offices existing only for a limited time, usually one day, at special events), although there are frequently other pictorial cancellations that are not officially described as such — they are among what are called special cancellations and are special die-hubs added to machine cancels, which usually contain merely a slogan but sometimes contain a picture. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A post office is a facility authorized by a Postal system for the posting receipt sorting handling transmission or delivery of Mail. There are a very few exceptions in which a particular post office uses a pictorial cancellation on all its mail. The range of allowable subjects is very broad, and may include a variety of commercial tie-ins, such as to movie characters. There has been a change, however, and what were formerly referred to as "pictorial cancellations" are now frequently called "pictorial postmarks".
Pictorial cancellations may, though more commonly in other countries than in the United States, form the day-to-day cancellation of a station. For example, there are a number of permanent pictorial postmarks in India and Great Britain. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands
In Japan there are several different types of what are there called "special postmarks":
- TOKU-IN: "[c]ommemorative hand postmarks with illustration relating to the event and occasions"
- EIRI-KIKAI-TOKU-IN: "commemorative pictorial postmark run on a special stamping machine"
- FUUKEI-IN: permanent pictorial cancellation[8]
There can also be pictorial cancellations applied by private local posts or to accompany artistamps on cover. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. A local post is a Mail service that operates only within a limited geographical area typically a City or a single transportation route An artistamp (a Portmanteau of the words "artist" and "stamp" or artist's stamp refers to a Postage stamp -like artform
References
- ^ GB New Stamps and Special Postmarks (retrieved 15 June 2007)
- ^ United States Patent 6672623 freepatentsonline. com
- ^ USPS rules: 164.44 Standard Cancellations pdflink
- ^ Postal cancel art
- ^ Special postal cancellations used in Japan
- ^ USPS: Celebrating With Pictorial Postmarks
- ^ Philatelic (Stamp Collecting) Services: Special Cancellations (retrieved 15 June 2007)
- ^ Special Japanese postmarks
See also
External links
- The International Machine Cancel Society website
- Silent Video (mpg) from 1903 of operation of Cancelling Machine
- Pictorial Cancellations Handbook, United States Postal Service
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