Another nice cancel!

coinpictures

Been wanting an example of this for quite a while, but have been waiting for one that is sharply struck and not smudged.

One of the most famous fancy revenue cancels... another case where the value of the stamp itself is immaterial.

edueku

Neato!

StampAlarm

Wow, that is nice.

covers

Coinpictures - nice cancel! When are you going do whole documents?

Below is a "normal" Union Pacific Rail cancel - the interest is in the check portion ...

coinpictures

My docket is full just keeping up with all of the cancels; don't need to expand into documents...

Actually, I do pick up documents when I have the opportunity, but my focus is still the cancel.

Plus individual stamps are easier to display and organize.

Nice check and cancel. You say the interest is in the check portion. What makes it noteworthy? Leavenworth as in the prison?

If you have any checks/documents with nice handstamped or printed cancels available for sale, drop me a PM...

covers

coinpictures - The maker of the check is Clark & Gruber, a minter of Colorado Territorial gold (good stuff ...) in 1860 and 1861.

PS - I rarely get revenue material. That check is part of a major collection of Colorady Territorial gold. Only others I have seen recently is a collection with PMSS steamer names (straight lines like "Costa Rica" and "Alaska," etc)

covers

From my recent book on US Post Offices in China and Japan:

Revenue Stamps with PMSS Cancels

An interesting philatelic adjunct to the study of mail carried by PMSS steamers is its usage of revenue stamps. United States revenue stamps of the 1862 issue were used to pay the tax due on tickets of passage, and the stamps were affixed as proof of payment. The amount of tax varied with the price of the ticket. The stamps were required to be cancelled upon use with either manuscript or handstamped cancels.

For this purpose straight-line cancels with the name of the ship were employed on several of the PMSS vessels that served on the China line. Although no complete tickets with revenues attached have been reported, loose stamps are known. Two examples are shown in Figure 4-26.

For further information on this subject, see the articles that appeared in the American Revenuer between 1961 and 1963 by Dr. H.P. Shellabear. A compilation of these articles was published as a pamphlet, The Pacific Mail Steamship Company Straight Line Cancels on the 1862-72 Revenues.