Fancy Cancels on Cover

During the 1800's America's postmasters were occasionally moved to carve interesting designs on the "Killer" portion of their canceling devices.

Some of these are quite famous, and as a group they have become quite collectible, if difficult to find outside of specialty collections.

Since most of these are self evident, the categories below will be largely images with few additional comments.

To the extent feasible, different categories will be grouped together, although there are always those that could be placed in more than one category.

In addition to this Lens, I have created several additional Lens focusing on specific parts of the overall collection. Be sure to visit these lens.

Haertel Estate Postal History Auction

To view of the Folded letters go to
Postal History

To view of the Free Franks go to
Free Franks

ETN Covers offers a wide range of mostly US Philatelic Covers of all descriptions. To see my current offerings go to my eBay storefront. ETN Covers eBay Store

New Table of Contents

US, US Mail , and similar
Reader Feedback
Letters as Killers
Let Me Build a Squidoo Lens for Your Collection.
Numerals as Killers
Free's and Paids
Stars
New York Fancy Cancels Including Foreign Mail
Waterbury Conn Fancy Cancels
Crosses
Masonic Cancels
Various Objects - Better Fancy cancels
Rings, Circles, Bursts
Geometric Circles
Propellers to Rossettes to Wheel of Fortune
Triangles, Diamonds and Arrows
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Check out some of my other Philatelic Lens

US, US Mail , and similar

Reader Feedback

Please leave a note if you enjoyed these fancy cancels, or have a comment to add about them.

Earl T

CT, You are right. The scarcity index treats all cancels from a town the same. Earlier cancels, fancy cancels and many other factors can significantly increase the value of a cover from an exisiting town even though its scarcity index is 0. The index does add a bit of information though. If you have a town with a scarcity index of 7 or more, you can be confident that not everyone has a copy.

Posted February 08, 2008

CT

I've often seen rarity number for DPOs used in lot descriptions. But don't those numbers just refer to the post office rather than the particular marking? Couldn't a post office have a low DPO rarity number and still have a few very rare markings?

Posted February 08, 2008

Letters as Killers

Let Me Build a Squidoo Lens for Your Collection.

All You Need to Do is Let Me Sell it!

The Covers in this lens were all part of the Haertel Postal History Estate Sale conducted by ETN Covers as part of the ETN Presents auctions series.

The ETN Presents Auctions Series Seeks to Present "Collections That Tell a Story" with Postal History as the Medium.

Today, most major philatelic auction houses tend to shun individual covers expected to bring less than $250-300. For most collections, that means they will cherry pick your top items, and toss the balance in a box to sell for pennies on the dollar.

ETN Covers hopes to fill that gap by offering a two-fer for the collector.

Effective eBay marketing of your collection by a decade plus eBay powerseller with 99.9% positive feedback rating...

And the preservation of your collection as a Squidoo Lens, or other web presence.

This is what I call Philatelic Catch and Release. It permits you to retain pride of ownership in your collection, even after it has been dispersed into the hands of other collectors eager to add your items to their collections. A way to have your cake an eat it too, if I may add another metaphor.

So, if you have a collection gathering dust, or plateaued out for all practical purposes, why not pass it on to the collecting community? There is an eager market for better material.

The best way to share your collection with others may be to do just that. Share it with others. Let new collectors use your material to build their dream collection.

While they are enjoying their portion of your collection, you will retain bragging rights to your entire collection, virtually online. You will still be able to display it, if not hold it. Should you chance on to the 'holy grail' cover that has eluded you all these years, you will still value it as a single, because you already have had the rest.

If you have a particularly informative collection, your web presence will allow others, long into the future, to value the completeness you achieved, and the insight your collection was able to illuminate, even though its pieces may by then be far flung.

ETN Covers specializes in US philatelic covers of all sorts, but is known to dabble in other arenas as well.

Email me for consignment information.

Earl Netwal
enetwal@gmail.com