A Collector's Guide to 1898 Documentary Printed Precancels: The Mimeographed Cancels

Occasionally, the active 1898 collector might come across cancels that appear to have been made with a typewriter.  Sometimes actual typewritten cancels may be found, usually confirmed by impressions in the stamp made by the type pressing into the stamp.  But many of the cancels that appear to have been typewritten were likely made with the use of a typewritten stencil placed into a mimeograph machine.  I'm virtually certain that the cancels below were mimeographed due to the lack of any sort of type impressions.  Whether they are or not, and whether mimeographed cancels are considered proper printed precancels, these types of cancels confound the preparation of a proper and complete 1898 documentary printed precancel list.  

Many of these types of cancels were likely prepared on an ad hoc basis, where sudden demand for a few hundred or so canceled stamps made using a mimeograph a simple solution if the tools and machinery were at hand.  And because many of these were probably made in such an ad hoc fashion and quantities were so limited, most of the information provided by these one-off cancels tell us little about who the original preparers were.   

Fullerton did include a small group of mimeographed cancels in his list.  The Adams Express Company, in at least one of its offices, prepared mimeographed cancels on three known dates.  A non-listed AMEX mimeographed cancel was shown earlier in this series.  In a future updated list, I am inclined to include the AMEX mimeoed stamp as long as the Adams Ex cancels are included.  

 

If anybody has other stamps with cancels like these, or others that appear to be mimeographed cancels, please let me know at 1898revenues@gmail.com.