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A fancy cancel is a postal cancellation that includes an artistic design. Although the term may be used of modern machine cancellations that include artwork, it primarily refers to the designs carved in cork and used in 19th century post offices of the United States.When postage stamps were introduced in the US in 1847, postmasters were required to deface them to prevent reuse, but it was left up to them to decide exactly how to do this, and not infrequently clerks would use whatever was at hand, including pens and "PAID" handstamps left over from the pre-stamp era.
A numberA number is an abstract entity used to describe quantity. There are different types of numbers. The most familiar numbers are the whole numbers {0, 1, 2,. denoted by W and the natural numbers {1, 2, 3,. used for counting and denoted by N . If the negative of offices began to use cork bottle stoppercork stopper for a wine bottle Champagne cork A stopper is a truncated conical piece of rubber or cork used to close off a glass tube, piece of laboratory glassware, a wine bottle or barrel and other containers with orifices. A rubber stopper is sometimess dipped in ink. These worked well, but would tend to blot out the entire stamp making it difficult to check the denominationA denomination is a unit of currency. United States A denomination of U. coins or U. currency is the value it is worth. Here are the denominations: Coins Cent ($. 01) (commonly known by the nickname "penny") Nickel ($. 05) Dime ($. 10) Quarter ($. 25) Hal, and so clerks began to carve a groove across the middle of the cork, making two semicircles. Further enhancements included two grooves cut crosswise (the four-piece "country pie"), and then two more, for the eight-segment "city pie", and notches cut out off the outer edge to lighten the cancel further.
The carving process seems to have sparked the creativity of clerks across the country, and soon thousands of designs appeared, ranging from shields to skulls to stars, geometrical shapes, animals, plants, and devils with pitchforks. The Waterbury, ConnecticutWaterbury is a city located in New Haven County, Connecticut. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 107,271. It is the fifth-largest city in Connecticut. Waterbury is home to Teikyo Post University. Waterbury had as its Mayor from 1943 post office was the master of the practice, and turned out new cancels for every holiday and special occasion. Their " Waterbury Running Chicken " cancel, perhaps a turkeyTurkey (officially the Republic of Turkey Turkish Turkiye is a country located in Southwest Asia with a small part in southeastern Europe. Until 1922 the country was the center of the Ottoman Empire. The Anatolian peninsula, between the Black Sea and the since it appeared close to ThanksgivingThanksgiving is a holiday celebrated in much of North America, generally observed as an expression of gratitude, usually to God. The most common view of its origin is that it was to give thanks to God for the bounty of the autumn harvest. In the United St of 18691869 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events March 1 North German Confederation issues 10 gr and 30gr value stamps, printed on goldbeater's skin May 10 Transcontinental Railroad completed at Promontory, Utah. May 15 Wo, was in use for only a few days and is now the most prized of all 19th century cancels, with coverCover may mean: Cover (telecommunications), a communications concealment technique Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package Cover version, a new version of a previously recorded song Cover band, a musical band that plays only covers Cover (s fetching very high prices.
The era of fancy cancels came to an end in the 1890s, when the Post Office Department issued new regulations standardizing the form of cancellations.
The fancy cancels have since been studied and categorized by specialists. Many types are quite common, and command only a small premium, while others are rare. Not all have been discovered yet; previously unknown cancels continue to surface regularly.
