FANTASY CANCELS FROM THE UNITED STATES

"Fancy cancellations" is the name for fantasy cancellations on U.S. - covers, which were used at first from 1850 as postmaster - cancels and then experienced a second spring around 1920 / 30 on B - letters. Fourth - class - post offices were allowed to use fantasy cancels without place - names. In some more remote places, this even happened until 1951.

These facts attracted my attention, when I looked for philatelic information about the topic "Christmas, commerce and change". I came upon letters that "were stamped according to this topic", as for example a cover from Santa Claus, Indiana, with a Santa - head, or from Bethlehem, Connecticut, with the illustration of Santa who sends out Christmas - greetings into the world through a microphone.

During my investigations regarding this topic, I came across the book "20th Century United States Fancy Cancellations", published in 1952 by Foster W. Loso, of New Jersey and Heyliger de Windt, of New Hampshire. The two authors investigated into this phenomenon of American postal history, and I find the result of these investigations so interesting that I would like to inform about it in this report.

Since a simple start postal cancellations have become very individual according to the occasion and for each city. The "cachet" became an issue of artistic proficiency, and everyone seemed happy to be able to create some extraordinary piece of mail.

Today, cachets are used as overprints without any influence on the cancellation of the letter, usually with the purpose of advertising something.

At the beginning the cancellation - rules of the US postal ministry as of 1902 were against this habit, as they said, that the mail - officials were not allowed to make any use of cancels, that had not been delivered by the ministry. The official rules as of July 1928 said: " All cancellation material must be obtained through the 4th  general postmaster only."

 REGULATIONS FOR REGISTERED LETTERS

There was a new arrangement for the treatment of registered letters in 1924. This was emphasised in 1928 when a circular was sent out to all postal administrations, by this opening a very interesting, but short chapter in the postal history of the United States.

This note by the 3rd assistant of the general postmaster directed the attention of all mail-officials to the rules of 1924, which said that no place - or departure - cancel may appear on the front side of registered letters. They wanted to distinguish them more clearly from ordinary letters.

It was not detailed clearly what should be used for the cancellation of registered letters. This opened the door for all kind if fantasy products (initiated however frequently by collectors and dealers), and "fancy cancellations" were invented. General postmaster James Farley said already in 1910: "With the consent of the general postmaster, each fourth class post office is allowed to use fantasy cancels of their choice".

Maybe the idea of the combination of cancel and picture bridged a gap as this was possible through no other combination. The "fancy cancel" was diverse, could be designed in different colours and last, but not least, the cancel on the reverse side of the letter proofed that the certified letter had really been sent.

Another important fact was that the payment of a fourth - class - mail - official, usually in a small town or city, depended in great measures on the number of cancellations applied. That is why it is very probable that these officials were very willing to execute each "legally appearing" project, which could influence positively their prestige as well as their payment.

Today it is a fact that a big percentage of these "fancy cancellations" originated in just these fourth - class - post offices, usually in small towns, that one must seek on the map and in which the mail - official was interested in philately, or where an enthusiastic philatelist or collector was living.

 IT BEGAN ON A NEW YEARS EVE

The "development of the philatelically uncommon" already began before the turn of the century, on the evening of the 31st of December 1899. Mr. A. Francs Learned, up to the year 1915 postmaster in Port Townsend, Washington, cancelled - when he was in the mood - stamps and covers with his "heavily kicking mule".

Someday in January of 1900 the mail - official thought at first that the last day had come for the old, kicking mule; so he took it "from the pasture" and used it for only special opportunities. However the old mule certainly worked harder during the next 13 years, than the nine known covers would make us believe.

Or: Imagine the proud feeling of the mail - official of station 9 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, as he used a beautiful black "H" (click on the "H" to see this fancy cancel) on a registered letter in June 1911. It seems that the postmaster of Montpellier, Vermont, had same idea when he used a big "M" as cancel on certified mail in March 1909. The mail - official of Northeast Harbour, Maine, used a framed black star to cancel registered mail in July 1907. The little village of Huntington, Massachusetts, used a black ink rubber - hand - stamp on a certified letter cancelled on 3rd August, 1914.

The mail - official of Alton, New Hampshire, reported in the year 1911 that the "Alton star" and "Bulls eye" had been used to cancel stamps and parcels during more than 36 years without interruption. Doubtless there were dozens of interesting "cancellations" around 1910; unfortunately most of them are lost forever for the collecting world.

How did the high number of "fancy cancellations", which appeared since the end of 1928, come into being, although they did not adhere completely to postal regulations ?

 WELL KNOWN COLLECTORS HAD THE IDEAS

It was easy ! Nationally known collectors like William Gilley, H. M. Brehm, W. G. Fountain, F. A. Spellman, Dr. B. R. Bales, C. A. Paige, W. C. Brink, Benjamin L. Cash and many other known philatelists with a particular liking of cancellations helped  to awaken the interest in "fancy cancels" and to start a distribution system.

The process was simple: A certain cancel had to be produced from wood, cork, rubber, eraser,  potato or any other useful material which guaranteed durability, in order to endure heavy use. Then, a mail - employee had to be found and convinced to use the cancel under particular circumstances.

This was very easy in some cases since the mail - official did not have any registered cancel, but he recognised a possibility to make his own city a little famous. As individuals differ, so do methods and opinions.

Dr. B. R. Bales wrote in September of 1933: "I turned to the mail - official of Buffalo, Ohio, and won him for the use of a specifically prepared fancy cancel. All covers were stamped beautifully (if I remember it well, there were over one dozen of certified letters and possibly the same number of 1st class letters), when the official suddenly decided to stop the cancellations, since he wasn't sure whether this action was in accordance with official postal regulations. He said that he would not transport these letters before a written instruction from Washington was available.

I had to accept this decision. The days passed and no covers arrived. But finally, after three weeks, the mail arrived in good condition. I believe that the mail - official had put the covers aside, but had forgotten to write to Washington, and then he felt that he must get rid off of these covers somehow.

In any case, would he have written to Washington, he would have received a negative answer. I say this, because I was called back in three cases by the 3rd assistant of the postmaster".

 THE CANCEL WITH THE VENUS OF MILO

Another experiment of Dr. Bales consisted in his attempt to make Florida better known in the following way: In Venus, Florida, a stamp of the Venus of Milo was used in blue ink on several covers, which were sent to Venice, Florida.

The Venice cancel was used in 1930 in three colours. There is a gondolier and canal with the sky to be seen, and all of that in red, green and blue colours. In order to get these stamps Dr. Bales travelled in big heat for over 250 miles !

Dr. Bales selected another little village, Barefoot, Kentucky, for the "issue" of a "fancy - cancel". He sent an especially prepared cancel in form of a small footprint to the mail - official of Barefoot. Dr. Bales reports: "The mail - employee wanted to do me a favour and cancelled a 1st class letter using the footprint of her little baby, in order to cancel the letter. She placed the foot of the baby on the ink - pad and then on the letter. This is a beautiful example of a cancel which was changed daily !"

The mail - official of Ed, Kentucky, E. R. True, a true friend of the philately, probably cancelled the biggest number of letters of any post office of the USA. The cancels usually show the shortened end of a regular cancel with the letters "Ed, Ky", both cancels with the same colour of ink. In answer to a letter, which Mr. E. S. True had received from the responsible mail - official, he confirmed: "It practically is impossible for me to inform even an estimated number of the cancels which were used or of the time periods when they were used. I can only say that most of them were used hundreds of times.

A man from Chicago sent 500 covers for cancellation at one time. Many others sent dozens of covers from different places and that over several years. I have no records of these processes, so I don't see any possibility to make a statement about the number of "fancy cancels" used.

Mr. Walther C. Brink, Genesee Depot, Wisconsin, famous because of the "purple cow", reports. "In 1928 I received the "Mekeels Newspaper" with illustrations of fancy cancels, as they were used in different communities. I spoke with Mr. Howard T. Greene, president of the "Brock Hill Farm", whether it would not be a good idea to get some publicity for Genesee Depot, as well as for "Brook Hill Farms Inc.". Since Waukesha Country is a big producer of fresh milk, and as there exist three tested milk - farms in this area, we decided that a cow would be a matching example for a cancel.

I did a test - drawing and then asked Mr. John M. Greene, who was working in the printing- and advertising - industry, and who was the brother of Howard T. Greene, to do a drawing. The companies Schwaab Stamp and Seal Co. in Milwaukee produced the rubber stamps. We gave the cancels to the mail - official together with the rule of the government, saying that the local cancel must not be used for registered mail. That is how the "purple cow" came into being. The mail - official, who died a long time ago, soon discovered that the cow was too big for a single cancel. Again the artist was called on to draft the cow's head in the circle  of the cancel, and a new cancel was produced.

 A LOT OF INTEREST IN THE PURPLE COW

At this time, Genesee Depot definitely was the centre of the philately world. Collectors flooded the mail - office with requests for certified letters. Actually the "business" turned out to be so good that the railroad - mail - officials complained in Washington about the additional work.

The 3rd Assistant General Postmaster asked for the "purple cow" to be prohibited. However,  since nothing was determined in the letter from Washington referring to the cow's head, this cancel was used for a very long time until the further application was prohibited. Other cancels were introduced and the number of cancellations on the reverse side of the registered covers clearly show that they were accepted, even from foreign mail offices.

During all these years, Mr. C. A. Paige was travelling in Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. He therefore had the opportunity to make many contacts in different places of these states.

He wrote down the following: "I cut the cancel, bring it to the mail - official of the city, explain  my idea with the hint, that the stamp has something to do with the name of the city, get an authorisation and stamp six or eight envelopes to my own or a friend's address. Usually I leave the stamp with the mail - official and I can imagine that he uses it for business - mail until at the moment when the mail - inspector finds out about that."

RED COLOUR WAS PREFERED

Mr. C. A. Paige and his charming wife produced approximately 50 beautiful and suitable cancels from cork or rubber. Regarding the colour of the ink we have to say that regulations from 1928 could have been much more specific. Should the red ink be applied on both sides, on the front or on the reverse side ? Should both sides be cancelled ?"

In the rule named just now, it says on page 119, par 34: "Mail - officials have to take care that registered mail must be cancelled unmistakably... If a normal cancellation and a fancy cancellation are used together on a registered letter, the cancel should be applied  in such a way that only the stamp on the front side receives the cancel.

Since red is a very clear colour, which is used for registration services, it should be used in combination with the rubber cancel."

 IN 1928 "FANCY CANCELS" WERE USED IN 44 CITIES

When on November 17th, 1928 the postal authorities published a very strict order regarding the non-observance of the rules of the postal ministry, an incomplete examination showed that not less than 44 cities had used altogether 64 "fancy cancels" on registered mail in the past months.

Since some of the cancels had been used without considering an injury of the rules, some others in the consciousness of the injustice and others even after repetition of the warning, it seems difficult to estimate the unconscious use.

And then, on November 17th, 1928, the Post Office Department published that famous order which prohibited the further use of "fancy cancellations". However some mail - officials continued with the model of the "fancy cancels". On November 17th, 1931 3rd  Assistant Postmaster gave out the following general order: "The incoming mail shows that a big number of mail - officials in this district use the forbidden rubber cancels with the purpose of cancelling stamps on registered mail. This is proof enough that many of these cancels represent some local, urban or other events.

The use of this forbidden cancels with registered mail should be stopped immediately and only such cancels should be used which have been approved by the Department for registered letters."

Three years passed and the Assistant Postmaster General was not able to say that there were no more fancy cancels, or maybe he had not recognised exactly why "fancy cancels" were used.

However, on August 27th, 1934, Roy M. North, executing 3rd Assistant Postmaster gave out the following order, "that the department was informed, that philatelists in the whole country asked the mail - officials to register letters, on which the cancel was placed with another than the black stamp ink, which was reserved for use by the department only. Even more so, letters should be registered with private cancels of different forms.

Philatelists have asked mail officials to apply forbidden tricks when cancelling the letters. Stamps may only be cancelled according to the rules of the Department, and only in black ink, which is also made available by the Department."

That was the end of the "fancy cancels", an idea, which had motivated many philatelists from all over the country. From the point of view of the collectors, this is regrettable. Fancies are even found today for a wide variety of topics. With some luck, you can find one.

 Sources:

*         "20th Century United States Fancy Cancellations" by Foster W. Loso, New Jersey and Heyliger de Windt, New Hampshire.

*         Article in "Deutsche Briefmarken Zeitung", Nº 23 / 2000