Stamps, quality and grading: Quality of cancel / postmark
Most stamp catalogs do a somewhat decent job in displaying the various quality levels of cancelled stamps. However, IMO there are surprisingly large international variations to what is desirable / non-desirable.
The beauty of SOTN
Being from Scandinavia, I’ve been raised to keep postmark as the most important quality factor used stamp can possess. If possible, my dream team of stamps would contain only SOTN (Socked-on-the-nose) items such as these:
2003 Finland - Moomin stamps with a SOTN cancel. These self-adhesive stamps were issued in a booklet.
And to make things even more challening, some serious minded philatelists have come up with a set of rules that “A true SOTN” stamp should qualify:
a) postmark should be in straight / almost straight position compared to stamp. If it’s sideways (or diagonal), then it’s not a a true SOTN.
b) Both date and location should be fully (or as fully as possible) readable from the postmark.
c) the postmark should be as close to stamps issuing year as possible.
Meaning a stamp cancelled a decade (or more) after the issue date, can’t be qualified as true SOTN.
d) Machine cancellations (especially if wavy lines are visible) are not qualified as true SOTN.
This is an difficult condition to collect, especially if following the above rules strictly.
Some countries, like Switzerland or Denmark, are somewhat easy to acquire in with very nice cancellations. But some, like US or UK, are guaranteed to cause lots of gray hairs (if not any already).
US postage stamps with nice SOTN postmark are somewhat hard to come by.
The non-desirable cancellations
On the opposite end of the pool, there are plenty of not so desirable alternatives.
First on the line there are VERY heavy and smudgy postmarks that hide away most of the stamps original design. This was the way original “killer postmarks” (used in some countries on the 19th century) were meant to be to prevent re-use. Sadly, modern day has it’s equivalents that exist not because they kill the stamp, but due to lower running costs compared to alternatives.
Straight from an exchange lot I received yesterday... A killer cancel on 18th century US stamp; these can be quite attractive though they do kill the stamps design. On the right a modern day US spray cancel.
Even more undesirable grade are used, but non-postmarked stamps. These are something I think nobody prefers, but sadly they are becoming more and more common.
2009 USA. No postmark on these stamps. These are best left on cover.
Pen cancellations are a complex issue, as depending on the era (and use/purpose) of stamp, these can be either desirable (first picture below) or non-desirable (second picture below). In both cases, these are samples of their times:
1888 Bavaria - crayon / blue pencil was used instead of normal postmark on some specific cases (such as heavy matter / parcels).
1974 US - some stamps from the UPU centenary set with ugly pen cancellation
And finally there is the case of CTO-cancelled stamps… These are usually visually attractive cancellations, but as they are not “real” a lot of collectors qualify these equal to utter junk.
Eastern Europe countries produced a great number of CTO stamps.
The other quality levels
Though I consider myself somewhat quality conscious, I’m not too worried by the fact a very large part of my collections is somewhere in the between of these two ends.
A sample of average quality cancellations.
In fact, I’m having a blast, as this allows me to work on two frontiers at the same time. While looking for new items, I’m also constantly looking for better quality (especially postmark wise) replacements for items I already have.
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Re your SOTN stamps from Finland shown as the first examples, are you collecting stamps or postmarks???
I like some stamps from Finland, and I like to see the stamp design, without having ANY postmark obliterating most of the design, whether it is SOTN or wavy line. Far better, IMHO, is a part cds on one corner.
Fortunately there are plenty of these about for the rest of us as so many people seem to want SOTN !
Thanks for leaving the nicely cancelled stamps for us!
That is a good question Ian…I think that in this matter beauty is largely in the eye of the beholder. It is stamps I collect, but I do too value a good postmark as well.
I have nothing against a corner CDS or wavylines on stamp, but I simply prefer having a postmark with readable location and date on my stamp. This is something I (and lot of collectors of the same generation) was “raised” to value. In similar style on the 1970’s collectors were raised to value never hinged over hinged stamps I believe. So possibly calling it “evolution of the hobby” would do the honors, LOL.
I don’t think there is a “right way” or “wrong way” to collect either. In my only used collection (Germany) I look for a cancellation that best compliments the individual stamp’s design. Sometimes it is a SOTN, sometimes a corner cancel and sometimes a clear impression of one of Germany’s special occasion postmarks.
That’s what makes this hobby great – and what gives us valuable trading material!
I don’t think I’s a difference between the generations but between the countries. I think in some countries like the USA most collectors prefer “lightly cancelled” stamps with only a smal part of thje cancellation in one corner of the stamp, while in other countries like Germany STON is preferred and (modern) stamps without readable date and location or stamps with machine cancellations showing even only a small part of the “wavy lines” killer are considered almost valueless.
I don’t know the reason for this. Maybe it’s the different culture, but maybe it’s just the fact that in countries like the USA SOTN are very hard to find because hand cancellations ae almost never used on normal mail and the machine cancellations are often ugly spray cancellations.
But of cause there’s no “wrong way”, like Greg said. Everyone is free to collect what he (or she) likes.
I agree there are huge countrywide differences… Just yesterday I was (re)reading preface of Scott catalogue and my eyes popped out when I noted a small note that stated “favour cancelled copies sell at large discount”. I admit my initial reaction was WTF??? I guess this explains why items that are easily worth 100€ in Northern European markets can be purchased for few bucks in US markets (and vice versa, as lots of European collectors are not that keen with centering with US stamps). LOL.
But in the end the only thing that matters are personal preferences – not what “official guides” recommend.
Hi Keijo-san
Maybe this is a topic that fits more into the postal history camp.
On a slightly-related topic, have you ever heard of anyone saving the bits of paper left behind when the stamps have been soaked off? Usually I throw those bits away, but every so often you find something interesting underneath e.g. a symbol, or a ‘place/affix/put stamp here’ or a price put there by a post clerk to indicate how much postage is needed, or occasionally a ittle heart with two names inside
@William… Yes, I’ve heard of that too. Everything can be collected
For example one of my wife’s sister collects “tree symbols” that are used by some organization / business. She picks them from adverts, magazines, print outs/flyers, post cards etc. and places them neatly into a scrap/clipping book.
I also collect Jazz and avant garde music on CD’s…lots of them, by now I have over 1.500…it’s no much if consider a guy (radio producer)that has more than 10.000 !!! WTF?
The problem…is space,space,space!!!
1500..and I thought my collection of 500+ heavy metal cd’s was a lot :p
Well…as long Ebay is there, I guess I have to move to a bigger place…
I think it really cute that you 30-somethings dig heavy metal.
@Rick… I think a lot can be explained by the fact that hard rock/heavy was somewhat “popular” (at least in Europe) when the current 30+ generation was growing up.
On the other hand, not all like it. For example my misses can’t stand any kind of “hard” music; she has really hard time realizing how I can even consider switching from Ronan Keating to Molly Hatchet
Blimey!!! I’ve got 67 and I love madly the music of Gustafsson, Vandermark, Brotzmann, Joe McPhee, Braxton and Taylor to mention a very few…
You’re still listening to Frank Pourcell and Pat Boone?!!! WTF?…L O L !
I still love led Zeppelin, pink Floyd, black sabbath, the who. It’s what I grew up on in high school.
Molly hatchet- I just caught that!!!
Heh well I’m 40 :p
But as Keijo said, we grew up with with rock and the NWOBHM scene..I may have changed genres sonewhat over the years from Rock (mainly UK and US), to Metal (mainly UK),to Thrash (mainly US) etc (never got into grunge), and currently really like the folk metal coming out of Scandinavia
Then…the taste of music is not a matter of a person age, it is more…you like or dislike…good or bad…love it or hate it… you don’t need to understand music, you only listen with your open ears…and then decide…that’s all!!!
Marshall Allen, an old musician(78+ years and still going) from the Sun Ra Orkestra, told me at the end of a gig in a venue: ” don’t think Fred, just play it!!!”… what a truth is that…really though!
Sorry Keijo!!! I’ve spoiled the post with something weird?
sorry again…but I feel touched on this topic… you are so kind…L O L!!!
@Fred… Don’t worry about de-railing the topic (from quality of cancelled stamps to love of music, talk about off-topic subject
). Likely I’ll do some housecleaning some day, but right now this discussion is way too much fun to be spoiled by such thoughts.
Fully agree with You. Give yourself to music, feel it, enjoy (or dislike) it. A bit like stamps
@Rick… Molly Hatchet is definitely superb. One of their evergreens, Fall of the Peacemakers, is about as epic as Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Freebird.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctmb9KvjohI
Okay, if we’re on the topic of music for just a few lines, have any of you used the website Fizy? It has a real simple interface but works very speedily to allow you to search for and listen to what you like. It’s at http://fizy.com/ I’m going to listen to it while I play with my stamps too. And now to skillfully return to from music to the topic of collecting – when I was a boy we had a gramophone with only one or two records. I used to sort my stamps to German Beer-drinking Music for hours on end. And now, of course, the two activities are completely linked. Do any of you have weird associations like that?
@William… Re, Fizy… Never used it. But seems interesting. Thanks for the tip.
Can we segue this into an exhibit of SOTN music on stamps? I have three exhibit pages of Elvis but no technical skills or focus to post them. Surely readers have great things on the topic in their collections to show off, along with musical links to set the mood.
Actually, Molly hatchery I recognized. When I was in grad school they were on my radio station all the time!
Hatchet!!! (Damn iPhone)
I want some of that German beer drinking music. Listening to that while “playing with my stamps” (and having a pint) sounds great!!!
iPhone or the pint? lol
Another offshoot of socked on the nose cancel collecting is calendar collecting. In the 1980s and 90s I belonged to the Bullseye Cancel Collecting Club that was based in the USA and I don’t know if they still exist. There were people in the BCCC who collected SOTN cancels on all 365 or 366 dates of the same year, sometimes on a single common stamp! The toughest dates in calendar collecting are certain holidays and Sundays.
The best years for completing calendar year collections were the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, with their abundance of SOTN cancels, especially from European countries. I never went as far as collecting individual years, but I did nearly complete the 366 dates, collecting by decades instead of individual calendar years. It was always fun to find an older February 29.
Without going the SOTN route, I have a calendar collection of covers, which requires readable dates, not necessarily on the stamps. Whether collecting dated-cancel stamps or covers, the toughest dates were January 1 and December 25, when many post offices are closed.
If you want to create some attractive pages, I heartily recommend seeking SOTN cancels that are fairly plentiful on large stamps, such as the 1949 UPU 75th anniversary omnibus issues of the British Commonwealth. Issued in October 1949, you should easily complete November, if not December of that year with some beautiful stamps.
Have fun, everybody!
I confess, this genre of collecting is new to me. Thanks, Sam, for your story and idea. Must go check my cancels/postmarks now.
Carol:
probably both!
All:
While being a virtual novice collector, I for some odd reason soon became interested in cancellations that include the full name of a city.
I remember, from my days of collecting Swiss stamps, there was a huge premium for a SOTN (as you call it, I’ve never heard that term in Philately before) cancelled block of four. The cancellation had to be crisp and in the center and there could only be ONE such cancellation on the block. Higher denominations especially, had substantial premium, such as the early high denominations of the Pro-Juventute series.
Now, no such premium exists in Scott’s catalog (it was listed in Zumsteins), so one presumably could have have found such material in the US and resold it in Switzerland for profit. I never looked into, or tried this, but it would be interesting to hear if those SOTN blocks of four really did trade for those elevated values.
I confess I have no clue about the markets for Swiss stamps, but I do know that most Finnish stamp dealers & auctions keep very close eye on international marketplaces for Finnish stamps and covers with clean SOTN strikes. And if the price is right (=fraction of what similar item would cost in Finland), they will buy too. But what I’ve heard, it’s gotten a whole lot tougher in recent years as pretty much everyone is following and bidding on the same international auction websites. Sure there are still deals to be made, but the difference between local and global markets is getting smaller every day.