American Express precancels are some of the most commonly found printed cancels on the 1898 documentaries. For many revenue and nonrevenue collectors alike, the AMEX precancel is likely to be the one revenue printed cancel they have seen. There are two main types of AMEX cancels, a serifed "Am. Ex." with an "189_" date, and a smaller nonserifed "Am. Ex." with three dates, including 189_, 1900, or 1901, producing a total five main collectible stamps with three of those very common and with two a bit more scarce.
The AMEX precancels are known only on the one cent battleship stamp.
This is the same American Express Company that exists today that is primarily known as a charge and credit card company. In 1898, AMEX was actually engaged in the express business, which at the time consisted of retail package collection, forwarding and delivery, utilizing subcontracts with railroads to move the packages between cities and towns. As such, the express companies consumed millions of one cent documentary stamps, as the law required a one cent tax stamp for each package bill of lading and its duplicates.
Type One: Serifed Am. Ex. with 189_ year date on one cent roulette.
Found only on the roulette battleship and quite common.
Type Two: Nonserifed Am. Ex. with 189_ year date on one cent roulette. This cancel is found on both the roulette and hyphen-hole battleships. The roulette version is common.
Type Two: Nonserifed Am. Ex. with 189_ year date on one cent hyphen-hole. This cancel is found on both the roulette and hyphen-hole 189_ battleships. The hyphen-hole version is relatively scarce.
Type Two: Nonserifed Am. Ex. with 1900 year date on one cent hyphen-hole. On this stamp the cancel is quite common.
Type Two: Nonserifed Am. Ex. with 1901 year date on one cent hyphen-hole. On this stamp the cancel is fairly common.
Type Three? All of the printed cancels above were listed by Richard Fullerton in his 1952 catalog of these cancels. No significant finds of other AMEX cancels like these have been found in the intervening years. However, at least one example of a mimeographed cancel has been found:
This cancel was produced using the same process that made so many of my worksheets when I was in elementary school. The example above is a scan of stamp I have in a folder on my computer. I'm not sure where it came from; I think it might have been from a larger auction lot that I did not win. Whatever the case, this stamp and cancel probably belong in a new list of 1898 documentary printed precancels.
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