American Express Printed Cancels: Pair including Subtypes A and B

189x roulette pair, subtype B above and subtype A on stamp below. Mansucript 9 added to complete year date.

American Express Printed Cancels: Varieties of Subtype B

American Express 189x sans serif printed cancels subtype B, where each of the seven stamps below has the 1 of the 189x year date under the center of the X in the AM. EX. CO. portion of the cancel. The following stamp is "normal" with three rectangular equal size periods and normally formed letters.

Subtype B, "normal"

Subtype B, rouletted stamp with large period after "CO".

Subtype B, hyphen hole stamp with large period after "CO".

Subtype B, thin period after "EX".

Subtype B, no period after "EX".

Subtype B, rounded period afer "EX", appears somewhat like doubled vertical oval.

Subtype B, round period after "AM".

American Express Printed Cancels: Varieties of Subtype A

Below are examples of three different varieties of Subtype A of AMEX printed cancels under the classification scheme used by Henry Tolman in his collection. See the previous post for background. Subtype A includes stamps with the sans-serif 189x format, with the 1 of the 189x year date under the left leg of the X in AM. EX. CO.

Stamp above is classfied as normal, with three rectangular or near rectangular periods in the AM. EX. CO. portion of the cancel.

Stamp above has a large period after CO.

Stamp with vertical oval period after EX.

American Express Printed Cancels: Henry Tolman's Sans-serif Typology

Approximately 2 years ago, part 4 of the Siegel auction of the Henry Tolman revenue collection included a 2 binder lot of proprietary printed cancels on the 1898 series. The main body of that is a gold mine I will be exploring in future months. But in the back of the second volume were several pages of cancels on documentary stamps, notably American Express printed cancels. The late Mr. Tolman had his collection of the sans-serif variety of these cancels classified according to year and the relative placement of the date under the AM. EX. CO. portion of the cancel. I don't know if this typology derives from the work of other philatelists; Tolman left no note to that effect. Whatever the case, there are 8 subtypes of the sans-serif printed cancel according to the classification scheme:

Subtype A: 189x year date, 1 of 189x under the left leg of the X in EX.
Subtype B: 189x year date, 1 of 189x under center of X in EX.
Subtype C: 189x year date, 1 of 189x under right leg of X in EX.
Subtype D: 1900 year date, 1 of 1900 under E of EX.
Subtype E: 1900 year date, 1 of 1900 under left leg of X in EX.
Subtype F: 1900 year date, 1 of 1900 between E and X of EX.
Subtype G: 1901 year date, 1 of 1901 between E and X of EX.
Subtype H: 1901 year date, 1 of 1901 under left leg of X of EX.

Below are examples of these 8 subtypes. In future posts I will show examples of multiple "sub-sub-types," as each of the subtypes below has minor variations which Henry Tolman put in the collection.

Subtype A: 1 under left leg of X.

Subtype B: 1 under center of X.

Subtype C: 1 under right leg of X.

Subtype D: 1 under E.

Subtype E: 1 under left leg of X.

Subtype F: 1 between E and X.

Subtype G: 1 between E and X.

Subtype H: 1 under left leg of X.

Cancel for June 13: Counselman & Day

Chicago stock brokers Counselman and Day

June 13 cancel on 4 cent doc strip of three

Cancel for June 12: Ballantine and Brown

Cancel for June 12: Ballantine and Brown on hyphen hole pair with guideline between.

Cancel for June 11: Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway

Cancelled on June 11 by the LS&MS Ry. The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway was Vanderbilt's link from the New York Central to Chicago. It was one of the most important assets in making him one of the richest men in the world.

Cancel for June 10: H. G. Rush

H.G. Rush Cancel from June 10, 1899.

Cancel for June 8: Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railway

Cancelled 108 years ago today by the Chicago, Peoria and St. Louis Railway. The mainline ran from Pekin to Madison, Illinois via Springfield. The line never made it to Chicago or into St. Louis proper.

Cancel for June 7: Southern Iron Car Line

Railroad car operator Southern Iron Car Line cancelled this stamp 110 years ago today.

American Express Printed Cancels: Handstamped Dates

In the previous post, Amex printed cancels were shown with incomplete dates or dates completed in manuscript. Some Amex offices used handstamps to complete dates, either with a single numeral to complete the 189x format, or a full 4 digit year date. Below are six stamps demonstrating different types or uses of handstamp dating.

Above, serif printed 189x completed with small handstamped 8.

Sans serif 189x completed with large handstamped 8.

189x completed with small handstamped 9.

189x completed with large handstamped 9.

189x completed with full handstamped 1900.

Printed 1900 complemented by handstamped 1900.

American Express Printed Cancels: Basic Types

Like the companies that used proprietary stamps, and the railroads that used high volume amounts of the same value of documentary stamp, American Express, the largest express company of its day, ordered printed cancellations for the one cent documentary. Printed cancellations helped save time establishing a valid cancel for each transaction, but they also served a branding function for the company.

American Express used two main styles of printed cancel, one with serif lettering and one without. They also used a partial type of year dating for printed cancels during the last two years of the 19th century by leaving the last digit of the year incomplete. Thus 189x would be completed with an 8 or a 9 by hand. Or at least it was supposed to be. Often the 189x would be left that way.

Serif lettered printed cancel for 189x. Rouletted stamp likely used during 1898.

Rouletted sans serif 189x.

Hyphen hole 189x sans serif with 1900 manuscript cancel. The use of hyphen perforations began sometime in December 1899. My collection has no hyphen hole stamps cancelled in November 1899, though there are several canceled in December. The stamp above was probably cancelled with a printed cancel in 1899. An Amex office was using up this old supply when they used a manuscript cancel on January 12, 1900.

Hyphen hole 1900.

Hyphen hole 1900 inverted.

Hyphen hole 1901.

Hyphen hole 1901 doubled cancel.

Railroad Cancels: Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad

The Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad was a system of railroads that ran throughout Florida. The system's route map in 1882 is shown below.
In 1889 the railroad took the name the Florida Central and Peninsular and changed from the name Florida Transit and Peninsular.

Rouletted 2 cent documentary handstamp cancelled by Florida Central and Peninsular on May 23, 1899, only 13 months before the Seabord Air Line Railroad leased and eventually absorbed the FC&P Railroad.

The Georgia and Alabama Railway, a cancel of which was highlighted in the previous post, was also absorbed by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad in 1900.

Railroad Cancels: Georgia and Alabama Railway

The Georgia and Alabama Railway came into existence in 1895 when it was created from the bankrupt Savannah, Americus, and Montgomery Railway. In 1900 the railroad became part of the large Seabord Air Line Railway.

2 Cent documentary roulette with Ga & Ala Railway cancel perpendicular to stamp design. The cancel is difficult to see and read, so with a little bit of enhancement, the same stamp is shown below with the cancel more clearly seen:

Industrial Cancels: The American Cereal Company

The American Cereal Company was founded in 1891 when seven oat millers merged together. Those millers included two Iowa firms, one in Illinois, and four in Ohio. One of the Ohio millers was called the Quaker Mill Company.

Company headquarters were in Chicago, which probably has much to do with company sponsorship and participation in the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

In 1901, the Quaker Oats Company was founded as a holding company and acquired the majority of American Cereal Company stock. In 1906 Quaker Oats took over all of the assets of the American Cereal Company and became a full operating corporation. Today Quaker Oats owns one of the best known consumer brands in the United States, and in some cases, the world.
This blogger has lived in the West African nation of Liberia for nearly 10 years. In that country, any kind of oatmeal is known as "Quaker Oats"!

2 Cent Documentary roulette with guidelines at top and right. Cancelled by The American Cereal Company on March 31, 1899.

10 Cent Documentary: Part Roulette

Part roulette strip of 4. There is no rouletting between the 4 stamps. Rouletting exists vertically only.

Battleship Revenues: 10 Cent Documentary

According to the tax act of 1898 requiring this stamp series, specific uses for the 10 cent stamp included:

• Bills of lading or receipt for any goods, merchandise, or effects, to be exported from a port or place in the US to any foreign port or place.
• Certificates of any description required by law but not otherwise specified in this Act.
• Broker's note or memorandum of sale of any goods or merchandise, stocks, bonds, exchange, real estate, or property of any kind or description issued by brokers or persons acting as such, for each note or memorandum of sale, not otherwise provided for in this Act.
• Powers of Attorney or proxy for voting at any election for officers of any incorporated company or association, except religious, charitable, or literary societies, or public ceremonies.

Lastly, the 10 cent value was often used in multiples to make up larger value tax requirements for many different types of documentary taxes.

Unused roulette single.

Unused hyhen hole single.

Unused hyphen hole block of 4 with right side margin selvage and lower half of guideline arrow.

Unused roulette plate number single. Fine centering.