Sunday, July 7, 2024

What are Printed Precancels on 1898 Documentary Revenue Stamps? A Primer Part Three

The Cancel Types and Subtypes of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway

This is an introduction to printed cancel types, again focusing on examples from the Chicago & Northwestern system.  The two stamps below illustrate the two essential types of Chicago & Northwestern Railway printed cancels.  Undated, the cancel on the left has a period after the "N", the cancel on the right has no period after the "N".  I'll show you how these two stamps can be best organized in a collection in the following post.

Otherwise identical stamps and cancels except for the punctuation after the "N"

Using the presence or absence of a period after the N as the primary variable, C&NW cancels may be neatly sorted into the two period/no period categories, and then subsequently disaggregated by two variables:  first, a date or lack of one, and second, by perforation type.  For example, let's consider known C&NW cancels that contained a period after the N.  There are four known major types:

Period after N, 189_, roulette


Period after N, 1899, roulette


Period after N, 1899, hyphen-hole


Period after N, no date, hyphen-hole

The collector of these cancels could focus at several levels when putting together a "complete" collection.  At the macro level, a single example of each railroad or company producting and using these cancel mioght be enough.  A more granular focus could range from major types (period or no period), the range of dates of the cancels, to considerations for the perforation type used on the underlying stamp.  For me, major, listable types should include perforation type, hence the stamps and cancels included in this post.

Now for the cancels with no period after the N.  There are six [seven??] known major types:

No period after N, no date, hyphen-hole

No period after N, 1899, roulette


No period after N, 1899, hyphen-hole 

At least one philatelist has reported a no period, 1899 cancel on a hyphen-hole stamp, but I cannot confirm the existence of the cancel

No period after N, 1900, roulette

No period after N, 1900, hyphen-hole

No period after N, 1901, hyphen-hole

No period after N, 1902, hyphen-hole


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