Introduction to Precancels
Collecting precancelled stamps is one of philately’s most interesting byways, suggests Richard Tarrant, in his in-depth guide to the subject.
Precancels are simply stamps that have been cancelled before being used on letters or packages. Precancelled stamps have been used by organisations that send out bulk mail, such as newspaper publishers and mail order companies, in a bid to save time and money. Allowing organisations that handled large quantities of bulk mail to use precancelled stamps has saved postal authorities from having to cancel hundreds or thousands of individual stamps. Meanwhile, the customers have often benefitted by having slightly reduced postage rates.
The USA has been, by far, the largest user of precancelled stamps. Precancelling was first authorised by the Post Office Department in 1887. A variety of processes was used to precancel stamps, including typesetting, mimeography and hand stamping. Many precancelled US stamps, though, were printed from electroplates, most of which were made by contractors for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington, which then supplied them to customers.
The USA experienced a large growth in the volume of mail during the late-19th and early20th centuries, much of it from businesses. The demand for precancelled stamps increased steadily to prepay postage on circulars and other printed matter. The introduction in 1912 of the parcel-post system further increased the demand for precancelling.
A lack of uniformity in precancelling designs led to the Post Office Department stating, in 1903, that precancels must consist of the name of the post office and state between two parallel heavy black lines. Prior to 1 July 1913, the cost of precancelling had been borne by individual permit holders or postmasters, on the grounds that the time they saved by using precancels outweighed the cost. From July, the Post Office Department undertook to bear the cost of supplying electroplates for larger cities for use by local printers or in post offices. It supplied smaller cities and towns that had lighter postal use with rubber handstamps that precancelled 10 or 25 stamps a time.
In 1916, the Post Office Department became concerned at the variations in the cost of precancelling in different cities across the large country. It then undertook the precancelling for three cities that used four million or more precancelled stamps a year because it was cheaper than paying local contractors. In 1923, the Bureau reacted to the increase in the demand for precancels and the technical difficulties experienced by local contractors and arrived at a solution. It precancelled stamps during the printing process and began supplying cities that ordered quantities of at least 500,000 sheet stamps or 250,000 coil stamps.
An interesting development in the history of precancels in the USA came about in 1938 as a result of concern over the possible reuse of precancelled stamps. The Post Office Department ruled that all precancelled stamps above the 6c denomination should have the initials of the user and the month and year of use added to the precancel (Figure 1). These ‘dated controls’ were applied by handstamp or printing.
COLLECTING PRECANCELS
Precancel collectors distinguish between ‘Bureau’ precancels (those printed at the Bureau of Engraving and Print) and ‘Local’ precancels (Figures 2–3). From 1917, over 9,500 different Bureau precancels were issued, but from September 1978, their format changed. They no longer used city names, instead having the class of service, two parallel lines or the service description incorporated into the stamp design. The effect of this was to make precancelled stamps available for national use; hence these are known as ‘Nationals’ (Figure 4). The Bureau finally ceased issuing precancels during the 1980s.
Local precancels were those printed other than at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, mainly because the numbers needed were lower than that required for Bureau printing. They were overprinted in the town or city where they were to be used. On 5 July 2007, local precancelling was discontinued.
There are various ways of collecting USA precancels. Collecting just Bureau precancels is popular. Some collectors, though, prefer to collect one stamp from each town or city – there are more than 20,000 different locations to look for – or even each style of precancel from every town and city, which can lead to a collection in the millions! Other collections can be geographical, such as the precancels of one state, or of one stamp issue, such as the 1938 Presidential series (Figure 5).
CANADA
While not having as extensive use of precancels as the USA, Canada was also a very active user of precancels over many years. Collectors of Canadian precancels recognise various styles of overprints. The earliest style was evident between 1889 and 1903. It took the form of stamps being overprinted with a system of bars, usually applied horizontally by rubber rollers (Figure 6). Distinction is made between the number of bars – between two and 11 – their thickness, whether bars are continuous or interrupted, straight or wavy, and the distance between bars. Identification of the differences is not always easy.
Another precancel style took the form of straight parallel lines applied by using plates (Figure 7). Distinction between styles is made by the number of bars – either four or six – the thickness of bars and the distance between the highest and lowest bars. The use of this style of precancel began in 1922 and continued until Canadian precancels ceased in 1978.
A quite different precancel style had the name of a town or city and the relevant province, separated by a pattern of straight or wavy lines (Figure 8). This style was used between 1903 and the 1930s in 54 towns and cities.
A further precancel consisted of a number between a pair of parallel lines. There were 47 numbers, each relating to the Post Office Money Order Office for the town or city in which it was used (Figure 9). Four of the numbers consisted of three figures preceded by the letter ‘X’, thus ‘X275’ denoted Halifax, Nova Scotia, while the others consisted of just four figures. Examples include ‘3800’ for Niagara Falls, Ontario, and ‘7120’ for Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. This numerical style was introduced in the 1930s and ended in the early 1950s.
There are many hundreds of different Canadian precancels for the collector to seek out. There are also a number of varieties to look out for. They include breaks in bars, broken or clipped letters, double overprints and inverted precancels (Figure 10).
FRANCE
France was an early user of precancelled stamps, having begun in 1853. Postage stamps were affixed to blank newsprint and were cancelled by the printed text of the newspaper. This practice continued until the issue of newspaper stamps in 1868. In 1893, France experimented with precancelling stamps by overprinting them with four or five lines of type. These stamps are very scarce and very expensive.
France began using printed precancels in 1920. They were used in 1920 and 1921 and overprinted with the inscription ‘POSTES PARIS’, followed by the year. In 1921 and 1922, precancelled stamps were also issued reading ‘POSTES FRANCE’, followed by the year.
From 1922 to 1954, existing definitive stamps were overprinted with a semi-circle resembling part of a circular postmark and inscribed ‘AFFRANCHTS POSTES’ (prepaid mail) (Figures 11–12). For a period from
BELGIUM
Belgium has been another prolific European user of precancelled stamps. Collectors distinguish between ‘typos’ and ‘roulettes’. Typos are precancels that are centrally supplied and produced by typography (Figure 16). They were first issued in 1906 and consisted of a vertical rectangular box with ‘BRUXELLES 06’ in two lines. Subsequent issues were printed for use in Antwerp, Ghent, Liege, Charleroi and Verviers, with the names printed in French and Flemish. In 1930, a ‘Belgiquebelgie’ precancel overprint was introduced for national use and lasted until 1938. It was replaced by a box with a posthorn design, which, with variations, is still in use to this day (Figure 17).
Roulettes are precancels that were produced locally with the use of rubber rollers. A rouletted precancel has a rectangular box, with the name of the town or city in which the stamp was used, in French and Flemish, and the year of issue (Figures 18–19). Roulettes were issued from 1894 until the 1930s, when typos valid for the whole of the country became available.
OTHER PRECANCEL COUNTRIES
The USA, Canada, France and Belgium are clearly ‘the big four’ in terms of precancel use, but other countries have used precancels to a lesser extent. Luxembourg’s precancelled stamps consisted of roulettes and typos issued variously between 1900 until 1925 (Figure 20). Algeria, Monaco and Tunisia have all issued precancels identical in style to those of France (Figure 21–22). Monaco, like France, still issues sets of precancelled stamps.
Other countries that have used precancelled stamps include Hungary, the
Netherlands, Austria, Turkey, Danzig and the United Nations.
What of Great Britain? Precancels have been few. Between the 1860s and 1880s, some firms were permitted to use their own obliterators to cancel their mail. They were Smith, Elder and Co., WH Smith, Henry S King and Co., and William Dawson and Sons (Figure 23).
A more familiar form of precancel was the barred circle mark that was used from the 1870s for precancelling the wrappers of certain large newspapers and magazines (Figures 24–25). Firms were able to have their stamped newspaper wrappers cancelled by the local post office, then returned and used later in the day. One organisation, the Stamford Mercury, was even permitted to have its own canceller from 1878 (Figure 26)!