Auctions

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I pulled this out of a dealers bargain box yesterday...could it be a cork cancel of a bird ?

They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
20 Jan 2014
05:47:17pm

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re: Could this be a cork cancel of a bird ?

Actually, if this were one of those ink blot tests, I would say it is a bull sitting on a rather puzzled dog.

www.bobbybarnhart.ne ...

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re: Could this be a cork cancel of a bird ?

First off: I don't think it is a bird or any fancy cancel.

My first question is if the envelope can be dated from a enclosure or by some other evidence.

Secondly, I am not seeing evidence that the stamp was used on cover. Are you sure the cancellation extends onto the envelope?

It is a third class rate cover and to me it looks like an early precancel usage. Tom Clark's "A Catalog of Philadelphia Postmarks 18th Century to the Present" may provide the answer if it is a recognized cancellation or just an ink blot.

Generally on the topic of US Fancy Cancels an article by our member Bruce Dangremond.

Arno

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re: Could this be a cork cancel of a bird ?

We have a couple of members collecting precancels, so they may weigh in on that possibility. I spend a little while googling right now but could not come up with a definitive answer, other that that there apparently was no uniformity in how stamps were cancelled before being affixed to envelopes in the 1880s. I found a pretty interesting account of a bulk mailing operation in 1893. It appears about half way through the web page.

I am about "sure" I have seen dozens of precanceled bulk mailings with that exact Franklin stamp, but I give it to David that it is not possible to distinguish a stamp pasted onto the envelope as a substitute for stamp that fell off the envelope from a precanceled stamp. Neither cancel will extend onto the envelope. The fact that third-class mail did not have to be date stamped was the exact reason why precancels could be used. But this could confuse cause and effect. Perhaps it was the other way around and the rule that the mail had to be date stamped was dropped for third-class mail to accommodate the usage of precanceled stamps.

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re: Could this be a cork cancel of a bird ?

Arno got me thinking, as he often does, and I found another source, albeit brief, on early precancels, http://www.precanceledstamps.com/getting-started/. There is NOTHING definitive here, but we find that precancels are first officially sanctioned in 1887, although unofficially used somewhat earlier. Your stamp is from an 1870 series, but some of these run until late 1880s, so all remains possible.

given that some have speculated that we have an altered cover, a precancel, or just a blob, all things are possible, but a great door has been opened into both precancels and third class mail. That door leads to an entire universe. I think this cover belongs to the latter, but not the former, and still see little evidence of a bird, unless we're talking road kill, then, yes, I see the resemblance.

David

juicyheads.com/link. ...

michael78651
21 Jan 2014
02:58:09pm

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re: Could this be a cork cancel of a bird ?

If it looked attractive to you, and you wanted to add it to your collection...nothing wrong with that. I have a worldwide collection as my main interest. However, I don't let that stop me from picking up an item here and there that interests me, but doesn't fit in my main collecting area. I have a few stock books of a secondary collection just for things that interest me.

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re: Could this be a cork cancel of a bird ?

Here is one cover I found in my stuff that I am pretty certain is a precancel, rather than a replaced stamp:



Here is the back:



It reads "Received March 22, 1878 from N. N. Summerbell"

It is a little hard to read, but I believe it is authentic. N. Summmerbell is named as the sender in the advertizing text on the front of the cover. So here we presumably have an 1878 Dayton, Ohio postmaster precancel.

Arno