I. 1898 Documentary Printed Precancels: An Introduction
Below: An example of a Chicago & Northwestern Railway 1899 dated printed precancel on the Scott #R163 rouletted one cent battleship revenue stamp. The stamp also displays a handstamp cancel that was applied by a station freight agent after the stamp had been placed on a bill of lading:
C. & N.-W. Ry.
_____________
1899
Collectors may occasionally come across battleship revenue stamps with printed overprints that look something like the stamp above. The black lettering on the stamp is an overprinted precancel applied by the company that used the stamp, and in the case of the stamp above, the Chicago & Northwestern Railway placed its initials along with a year date and dashed line on which a freight agent was expected to place a handwritten or handstamped day date. I've used the stamp above with the C&NWRy overprint as an example as overprints by this railroad are some of the most common to be found in collections and dealer stock.
Who produced and used printed cancels? Unlike the dozens if not hundreds of pharmaceutical companies during the 1898 tax period that used printed cancels on the proprietary series of stamps, there was a much more limited group of companies printing cancels on the documentary stamps, the majority of which were railroads. A handfull of railroads, about 20 or so, used printed precancels on the one cent documentary battleship, and also several applied their printed cancels to the two cent battleship. A smaller group of other companies, including express companies and an insurance company, used printed cancels on higher value stamps, even applying their cancels to R173-R175, the first three dollar value 1898 revenue stamps.
How were they used? The Chicago & Northwestern system produced printed cancels only on the one cent documentary battleship. These stamps were likely used exclusively on bills of lading (though they could have been used on parlour car tickets), which were effectively the shipping receipts that documented cargo received for transport by the railroad. Bills of lading and their copies each required a one cent tax stamp. And with railroads as the primary means of moving freight at the time, hundreds of millions of the one cent battleship were likely used by railroads on bills of lading. Precancelled two cent battleships were used by a few railroads on checks or drafts to pay the two cent check tax. Other uses will be discussed in future posts.
How were they printed?
Why were they printed? In the map below you can see that the Chicago & Northwestern System stretched west and north from Chicago into rural farm country. Depots and stations dotted multiple states, and each station was required to stock revenue stamps to use on bills of lading when freight was consigned. With every sheet valued at a dollar, railroads like the C&NW were sending out thousands of dollars of revenue stamps to stations scattered across multiple states. Securing those stamps was a bit like securing currency. Systems like the C&NW could help control theft by precancelling the stamps with their initials, making it more difficult to fence the stamps. Presumably a purchaser of the precancelled stamps wouldn't want to show they were using the stamps of a railroad.
Did the Chicago & Northwestern only use printed cancels? No, though the C&NW precancelled 100s of thousands stamps. In fact, most railroads didn't pre-print their cancels. Most cancelled their stamps with an inked rubber handstamp device, like the C&NW handstamp below.
C. & N. W.
FEB
8
1899
RY. CO.
Above, an example of a Chicago & Northwestern Railway handstamp, what I like to call a decipede cancel due to the 5 wavy legs that project from each side of the box. The cancel was one of several handstamp styles employed by the Northwestern system, the fanciest being the banner cancel that overstamped a printed cancel below. This type of handstamp cancel may occasionally be found on stamps precancelled by railroads in the C&NW System other than the C&NW railway itself.
C. & N. W. RY.
AUG
24
1900
WHITTEN,
IOWA
-handstamped over-
C. & N-W. Ry.
____________
1900
What is collectible among these cancels? A basic 1898 documentary printed precancel collection might try to achieve one or more objectives, or collect as many examples of these relatively scarce items, including:
- An example of each railroad or company that used printed precancels
- An example of all major types cancels of each railroad or company
- Examples of cancel printing varieties, including inverts, double impressions, and split cancels
- Examples of on-document uses of printed cancels, including on bills of lading, checks and drafts
All together, the universe of these items is small, if also relatively scarce, and can make for a long-term search for the collector. Demand for these items is also fairly light, so that prices, even for the rarest items, can be within the budget of many collectors. Often the impediment to completing a collection of this material is supply rather than finances, so that patience and persistence is required!
Collecting on-document examples can be very interesting. The stamp above with the fancy banner cancel comes from a fragment of a Chicago & Northwestern consignors bill of lading like that below in which beer from the Val Blatz Brewing Company was consigned for shipping. Unfortunately, not all consignments on the C&NW were for beer!
Lastly, for today's post, is an example of a C&NWRy unused plate strip of three. A collector might try to collect multiples like these, though examples of unused multiples like these are not particularly common. The railroads seemed to have been fairly careful to control the release of these stamps. One exception is the International and Great Northrn Railroad, based in Texas, that seems to have quantities of multiples available to collectors, including at least one full sheet of the one cent documentary that I have seen.
1902 cancelled plate strip of three. The 1902 C&NW Ry cancel is scarce.
II. The Railroads of the Chicago & Northwestern System
Part one of this series highlighted the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. However, the Chicago & Northwestern "System" was referred to several times in the post. There were three other railroads in the C&NW system shown on the map provided in part one, and they all used collectible printed precancels, so that of the 20 or so railroads that used printed precancels, the C&NW system represented roughly 20% of the total. The additional railroads included:
- the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway,
- the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad, and
- the Sioux City & Pacific Railroad
All four railroads added year dates to some of their printed cancels, a unique feature of this railroad "system".
Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway:
C. St. P. M. & O.
Ry. Co.
..................1900
All of the cancels of the railroads in this post are not common. Of these, CStPM&O cancels are the most frequently seen, with cancels that have year dates for 1899, 1900, 1901, and some without a year date. By contrast, many of the Chicago & Northwestern Railway printed cancels are some of the most commonly found.
Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad:
F. E. & M. V. R. R.
-----------------------
1902
FE&MVRR cancels are much scarder than those of the CStPM&O, and have year dates that range from no date to 1899 through 1902.
Sioux City & Pacific Railroad:
S. C. & P. R. R.
-------------------
1899
C&NW System map. The CMStP&O is the railroad shown by the dashed line running northwest from Madison, WI, up to the twin cities and then down into Iowa and Nebraska. The original mainline of the Fremont, Elkhorn ran from Omaha to Deadwood, South Dakota. The original mainline of the Sioux City & Pacific ran from Missouri Valley, Iowa, to Sioux City, Iowa.
In the next post I will begin to explore the major collectible varieties among the railroads in the Chicago & Northwestern System.
III. 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"
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
IV. Chicago & Northwestern Railway Cancel Sub-Varieties
Some collectors, in particular the black hole of revenue collectors, Morton Dean Joyce, were interested in collecting what might be called "sub-varieties" of printed cancels. (I refer to Joyce as a black hole as he seem to have acquired first rights to most revenue material over his collecting lifetime and had the money to buy it all and mostly did -- I'll write more about Joyce's collection of these printed cancels later). I guess I'm a bit guilty of interest in these more in-the-weeds items, particularly when they are dramatic like the first two examples below. I'm continuing to use the Chicago & Northwestern cancels as examples.
C&NWRy 1901with the cancel torqued to the left roughly 45 degrees:
C. & N-W. Ry.
------------------
1901
The cancels above and below result from errors at the time of printing. The sheets of stamps were fed into the press incorrectly, resulting in a visually dramatic errors. Unlike the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the cancel printers couldn't throw out the error sheets without paying for the stamps, so my guess is that these sheets were sent from the printers to railroad with everyone in full knowledge of the error for use on bills of lading. Both of these stamps were in Joyce's collection.
C&NWRy no period 1900, cancel split horizontally:
C. & N-W. Ry.
------------------
1900
C&NWRy 1900 with the 14th dash missing:
C. & N-W. Ry.
--------------- --
1900
Above and below are two more items from Joyce's collection. The cancel errors or varieties, however, are different in their origin from the first two stamps above. These cancels have issues with their type, that may have come from an error in typesetting, or more likely, transient damage to the press. Persistent plate errors or varieties can be interesting and fairly collectible.
However, inking issues or flaws may also occasionally affect the appearance of a cancel. The stamp below displays an inking variety with the period after "Ry", which appears not as a square but as vertical dash. The stamp immediately above shows the period after "Ry" to be a box that is only filled in on the right side. These errors are highly variable, subject to individual interpretation, and should be considered of little philatelic signficance in my opinion.
C&NWRy no period1899, last dash a period:
C. & N.-W. Ry.
------------------.
1899
Over the course of the next few weeks this site will examine many more examples of the different types of varieties and errors shown here.
V. The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway
The CStPM&ORy was a part of the Chicago & Northwestern System of Railroads, and like all the C&NW roads, the company printed and used precancels on the one cent battleship documentary stamp. While the characteristics of the printed cancels of this railroad vary over the tax period, categorizing the stamps by year date (or lack thereof) provides a mutually exclusive way to disaggregate the four main types of cancels. So rather than assign types to these cancels, it is adequate to break them down according to date. Cancels may be found with no date, and dated 1899, 1900, and 1901, such that there are four main collectible cancels. All undated and 1899 cancelled stamps are found with roulettes; 1900 and 1901 are found with hyphen-hole perforations.
Both the undated and 1899 cancels have solid lines for adding a manuscript or handstamped date.
Undated:
C. St. P. M. & O.
Ry. Co
________
Dated 1899:
C. St. P. M. & O.
Ry. Co.
_________1899.
Both the 1900 and 1901 cancels have dotted lines for adding a manuscript or handstamped date.
Dated 1900:
C. St. P. M. & O.
Ry. Co.
..................1900
Dated 1901:
C. St. P. M. & O.
Ry. Co.
..................1901
CSt.PM&O Railway Varieties
Invert: There is a reported invert of the 1900 dated CStPM&O cancel. This author has not seen or been able to verify this variety.
Split Cancel: Below is a vertical undated split cancel. The line for the manuscript or handstamped date is at the top edge of the stamp design rather than at the bottom of the stamp.
__________
C. St. P. M. & O.
Ry. Co.
Multiples of documentary printed are relatively scarce, except for those of the International & Great Northern. Here are two fairly large multiples from 1899 and 1900:
The stamp with the missing line type is on the bottom row, 3rd from left. The cancels on the three stamps in the vertical column at the far left of the block are not in line on the horizontal with the cancels on the rest of the block. A close up of the misalignment is below:
1900 block of 12. The perfs between the third row are completely blind though the hyphen-hole impressions in the paper are visible from the back:
V. The Sioux City & Pacific Railroad
The printed precancels of the Sioux City & Pacific are among the scarcest of the 1898 railroad printed cancels. There are only three collectible dates, so the universe of these cancels is quite small. Completing the collection of three is a challenge, however. I'm still searching for an example of the 1900 cancel. I've borrowed the 1900 scan below from fellow collector Charles Souder.
No date:
1899:
1900:
1899 on bill of lading fragment:
Railroad agent handstamp cancel applied in Sioux City, Iowa.
VI. The Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad
Top row: thin ampersand
Middle row: medium ampersand
Bottom row: thick ampersand
Like all the C&NW System railroads, the Fremont, Elkhorn's cancels incorporated year dates in most of their cancels, creating multiple collectible cancel dates. The FE&MVRR, somewhat similar to the Chicago & Northwestern's "period after the N", had a typeset variable in the ampersand, creating additional collectible varieties. However, unlike the C&NWRy period, which was systematically replaced across the cancelling plate, it appears that the thin and thick ampersands were likely used infrequently across the cancelling plates with the medium ampersand in the majority of positions. Unfortunately, I've not seen a multiple of these stamps showing the medium and thick or thin ampersands on one plate. However, based on the rarity of thick or thin ampersand examples, I'm figuring they appeared infrequently on an otherwise medium ampersand majority plate.
Because I believe the differing ampersands were only anomalies on the cancelling plate, I'm demoting their status as an organizing type. For the C&NWRy, the period is the primary variable. For the FE&MVRR, the ampersand is secondary variable, with date as the primary and perforation type as a tertiary variable. Using this organizing criteria, here are known examples of these cancels:
No date, medium ampersand, roulette
handstamp cancelled in Humphrey, Nebraska
No date, medium ampersand, hyphen-hole
No date, thin ampersand, roulette
???
EXAMPLE/IMAGE UNAVAILABLE
1899, medium ampersand, roulette
1899, thick ampersand, roulette
1899, thin ampersand, roulette
1900, medium ampersand, hyphen-hole
1901, medium ampersand, hyphen-hole
1902, medium ampersand, hyphen hole
A C&NW System map with the Fremont, Elkhorn tracks in black with white dots heading west through Nebraska into Wyoming. C&NWRy in red. The Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha is in blue.
An example of a bill of lading with a 1900 FE&MVRR precancelled one cent battleship:
E. E. Bruce & Company did enough business as a wholesale druggist that they printed their own BOLs.
VII. The Gould Railroads
A group of seven plus one railroads using printed precancels can be classified as "Gould Railroads", or railroads that were taken over by Jay Gould prior to his death in 1892, and subsequently controlled by his sons, in particular George Gould, through and beyond the 1898 tax period. Those railroads include:
- MOPAC System: The Missouri Pacific Railway (The Mo. Pac. Ry. Co.)
- MOPAC System: St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway (ST. L. I. M. & S. RY)
- The Kansas City Northwestern Railroad (The K. C. N. W. R. R.)
- Cotton Belt Route: St. Louis, Southwestern Railway (ST. L. S. W. RY. CO.)
- Cotton Belt Route: St. Louis, Southwestern Railway of Texas (ST. L. S. W. RY. CO. OF TEX.)
- Cotton Belt Route: Tyler Southeastern Railway (T. S. E. RY. CO.)
- International & Great Northern Railroad (I & G N R R)
- + an oddly affiliated railroad that was not Gould controlled: The Memphis Route: The Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad
Below are examples of the eight collectible Gould or Gould associated railroads that printed and used precancels. At the end is an example of a potential discovery to be made, a major Gould railroad that was integrated into the larger Gould operations but for which to date, no precancels are yet known.
Following this post, in the coming days, will be an exploration of the cancels and collectible types of each of these railroads.
The Missouri Pacific Railway Sytem
The Missouri Pacific Railway
The Missouri Pacific was the Gould's flagship railroad, and a railroad that remained independent until the late 20th century. By the time the railroad was absorbed into the Union Pacific, it actually had more locomotives and track miles than the UP itself. The MOPAC printed precancels on the one and two cent battleships. Like all the Gould railroads, there was Gould presence in the railroad's senior managment.
MOPAC printed precancel
Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1899:
George Gould was the President of The MOPAC, while Edwin and Howard Gould were on its Board of Directors.
St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway
The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern was an integrated railroad of the MOPAC system, and participated in using printed precancels. Their precancels are only known on the one cent battleship stamp.
StLIM&SRY printed precancel
from Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1901:
George Gould was the President of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, Frank Jay Gould its first VP, and Harold Gould was on its Board of Directors.
The Kansas City Northwestern Railroad
The KCNWRR was a small railroad of of ultimately 160 miles that went from Kansas City to Beatrice, Nebraska. It never did enough business and ceased operations by 1919. But early financial difficulties, and its location in the backyard of Gould railroad interests made it a takeover target by the Goulds. KCNWRR cancels are rare.
The KCNWRR printed precancel
from Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1899:
George Gould was the President of the KC Northwestern, while Howard Gould was on the Board of Directors.
St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company (The Cotton Belt Route)
The Cotton Belt Route functioned as a single railroad, but had three differently named components during the 1898 tax period, including the St. Louis Southwestern, the St. Louis Southwestern of Texas (Texas law did not allow "foreign corporations"), the the Tyler Southeastern. All three railroads were controlled by Gould interests during the 1898 tax period.
from Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1899:
The Cotton Belt Routes' main components: the St. Louis Southwestern, the St. Louis Southwestern of Texas, dn the Tyler Southeastern Railway.
from Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1899:
Edwin Gould was the President of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway Company. J. A. Edson, the General Superintendant, was based in Tyler, Texas.
St. Louis Southwestern Railway
STLSWRY printed precancel
St. Louis Southwest Railway Company of Texas
STLSWRYCOofTEX printed precancel
Tyler Southeastern Railway
TSERY printed precancel
International & Great Northern Railroad
The International & Great Northern was "international" as it terminated at the Texas-Mexico border at Laredo and connected with a major Mexican railroad. The I&GNRR was a most prolific railroad when it came to printing precancels as their precancels are known on the 1, 2, 5, and 10 cent battleships, and on Scott R155, the IR overprinted green Franklin postage stamp.
I&GNRR printed precancel
from Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1899:
George Gould was President, Frank Gould was second VP, and Howard and Edwin Gould were on the Board of Directors of the I&GNRR.
Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railway, "Memphis Route"
Because few railroad systems printed and used precancels, I feel compelled to try to explain why some outliers, like the Memphis Route, might have done so. The Memphis Route was not technically a Gould railroad. However, major aspects of their operations were conducted in areas proximate to Gould interests, so the Goulds would have had an interest in the railroad. There were also documented connections between the Goulds and senior members of the Memphis Route's Board of Directors.
Memphis Route printed precancel. The Memphis route also printed cancels on the two cent battleship.
from Poor's Manual of Railroads 1899
Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad Board of Directors. There are no Goulds. A Nathaniel Thayer is on the Board.
The December 22, 1901 edition of the New York Times reported what was a false story, claiming that the Memphis Route had been taken over by the Goulds. The Frisco never lost control of the railroad despited this story. But while this story is false, there are clear associations between the Goulds and this railroad.
A Discovery Possibility: The Texas & Pacific Railway
There are multiple possibilities for cancel discoveries with the Gould railroads, as the Goulds owned many lines like the Kansas City Northwestern with cancels that are quite rare, such that some may have printed precancels but that to date have shown no evidence of having done so. As in the case of the Tyler Southeast, it is very possible that some of the roads may have printed cancels, but may have been so small and rurally located that their bills of lading and stamps were not preserved and lost to philately.
Rather than present a list of discovery possibilities, here is a single possibility with evidence that the railroad was a part of the larger Gould empire and which may have printed precancels.
from Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1899:
Texas & Pacific Board of Directors and Senior Management that includes George Gould as President, Frank J. Gould as second VP, and Howard Gould as a member of the Board
Below, an International & Great Northern precancancelled one cent battleship stamp with a Texas & Pacific handstamp cancel.
THE T. & P. RY. CO.
FEB
1
1901
VIII. The Gould's Missouri Pacific Railway
There are two collectible types of MOPAC precancels, including the most common with lettering 2mms high, and a second very rare type with approximately 1.8mm high letters. For the first, more common type, one cent and two cent battleship stamps both roulette and hyphen-hole may be found. For the second type, only a hyphen-hole one cent battleship example is known.
Significant press varieties exist of the type one on the one cent battleship.
Type 1: One cent roulette
Type 1: One cent hyphen-hole
Type 1: One cent roulette horizontal split cancel
Type 1: One cent hyphen-hole inverted cancel
Type 1: Two cent roulette
Type 1: Two cent hyphen-hole
Type 2: One cent hyphen-hole
IX. The Gould's Missouri Pacific Railway: Printed Precancel Uses
MOPAC precancelled stamps may be found, and collected, for the uses and the location of their use. While most off-document used copies of MOPAC precancelled stamps provide minimal additional information beyond the stamp and printed cancel, many stamps may be found with handstamps that identify the date and the location of use.
Handstamp showing date of use with generic "Mo. Pac. Ry. Co." cancel
Mo.Pac.Ry.Co.
AUG
10
1900
Map of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, which includes the MOPAC and the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern, but also the major affiliated Gould controlled railroads, including the I&GNRR, and the Cotton Belt. The MOPAC consisted mostly of the lines that ran west from St. Louis on this map, and the cancels below were made at stations and depots on those western MOPAC lines.
THE MO.PAC.RY.
AUG
29
1898
NEW HAVEN, MO.
THE MO.PAC.RY.
SEP
10
1898
TIPTON, MO.
THE MO.PAC.RY.
JUL
1
1899
WEBB CITY, MO.
THE MO.PAC.RY.CO.
MAY
24
1901
WORLAND, MO.
? E. E. MA??
JAN
2
1901
HOWE, NEB.
THE MO.PAC.RY.
SEP
2
1898
GAWKER, KANS.
THE MO.PAC.RY.
AUG
17
1898
MOUND RIDGE, KANS.
THE MO.PAC.RY.CO.
FEB
1
1899
NEWTON, (D) KAN.
THE MO.PAC.RY.CO.
AUG
28
1899
OSBORNE, KANS.
FREIGHT OFFICE
OCT 22 1900
Missouri Pacific Ry. Co.
WICHITA, KANSAS.
Department of the Army Bill of Lading for 211 pounds of ordnance to be carried from Omaha to Fort Crook, Nebraska
Stamp from the above document with generic "Mo. Pac. Ry. Co." handstamp.
MOPAC check with precancelled two cent stamp.
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