|
|
This Precancel chronology is from
the introduction to "List of Post Offices Authorized to Use PRECANCELED
STAMPS and GOVERNMENT PRECANCELED ENVELOPES" by Rolston Lyon
- (Starting with the first U.S. stamps in 1847, many experiments undertaken with canceling entire panes of stamps ahead of time for various usages. -JCF)
- 1911, December 5: Postmaster General Frank M. Hitchcock authorized the general use of precancels on Christmas parcels for the first time.
- 1912: The act of Congress approved August 24 created the Parcel Post service. This resulted in a tremendous increase in demand for postage stamps and a more efficient system of canceling these stamps.
- 1913, July 1: Regular postage stamps were made valid for parcel post. Parcel post stamps were made valid for ANY postal duty. The Department instituted the policy of supplying precanceling equipment and cash allowances to cover the cost of precanceling to "authorized" postmasters. Bids were called for and supply contracts signed for both (100 subject) electrotype places (used for precancelling large quantities of stamps) and 25-subject rubber handstamps, used where the demand for precancels was not great enought during a year to require printing.
- 1916: In an effort to reduce the costs of PRINTING precancels, the Post Office Department invited the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to bid on certain contracts. The Bureau was low bidder on only four of these contracts; the result was the Experimental Bureau Prints used at four offices. (actually three -- Augusta ME, New Orleans LA, Springfield MA)
- 1923, May 3: The first of the "regular" Bureau Print precancels was issued -- the 1 cent sheet stamp made for New York, NY. (The Stickney Intaglio web fed press used paper premoistened before passing through the press. ("wet process") The precancelling was applied by roller immediately after printing and before the stamps were gummed, cured and perforated. -PSS Catalog of US Bureau Precancels, 4th ed, Oct 1997)
- 1924, April 26: The Third Assistant Postmaster General issued the first of a long series of notices prohibiting the precancelation of commemorative stamps, and the sale of precanceled stamps for collection purposes. (The collectors were forced to dive into the trash at post offices to recover many of the rare items extant. -JCF)
- 1924, August 7: The Third Assistant Postmaster General authorized the use of precanceled stamps on first-class matter, under special conditions.
- 1925, February 28: Postmaster General Harry S. New authorized the private precancelation (with mailer's postmark) of Government stamped envelopes under Section 452 1/2, P. L. & R. (Act of February 20, 1925).
- 1925, March 9: The Third Assistant Postmaster General issued an order prohibiting the use of precanceled stamps on motion picture film cans, (Only two stamps survive from film cans precanceled in Palms CA since they were placed on the seam. -JCF) laundry cases, egg crates, etc., or other containers specially designed to be reused for mailing purposes. The result of the order was to curtail use of high-denomination ($2 and $5) precancels.
- 1928, May 29: Section 435 1/2, P. L. & R. was promulgated.
- 1928, August 7: The Third Assistant Postmaster General advised postmasters that the Department would supply precanceled 1 cent stamped envelopes, either with or without printed return card, to meet the requirements of mailers under Section 435 1/2, P. L. & R.
- 1929, January 12: Co-Ed Dressmakers, New York, NY applied for, and received, a great number of permits for a direct-mail advertising campaign. In many cases this was the first permit for a given town, and new precanceling devices were authorized and supplied. All permits were dated January 12, 1929.
- 1929, January 18: The Third Assistant Postmaster General called the attention of postmasters to the fact that Bureau-printed precancels were available under certain conditions.
- 1929: During the last week of January, but especially during the first two weeks of February 1929 the Post Office Department made a questionnaire check of all post offices to determine which were using precancels. It was found that many smaller offices had merely ordered their handstamps from the Division of Equipment and Supplies without the formality of first obtaining authorization from the Division of Classification. In every justifiable case the erring postmasters were "legalized" by a belated authorization to use precanceling devices already in use. This "legalization" covered some devices going back to 1917 or earlier. Most of these "legalizations" are dated between February 1 and February 11, 1929, although there were the customary number of "tail-end Charlies".
- 1930, January 21: The Third Assistant postmaster General advised that Government precanceled stamped envelopes furnished thereafter would be issued without gum on the flaps.
- 1930, May 29: Postmaster General Walter F. Brown announced the amendment of Section 452 1/2, P. L. & R. (Act of May 9, 1930) to include government postal cards.
- 1932, Summer: Alarmed by the steadily increasing costs of replacing worn and damaged 25-subject rubber handstamps, which were susceptible to warping and damage from many causes, the Department decided to change from rubber to 25-subject hand-applied electroplates. More than 4,100 offices then using precancels, were supplied on an automatic-reissue basis with the new metal devices. It is obvious that the great number involved could not have been produced on a single day, and the Department kept no records of shipments to individual postmasters.
- 1934, July 1: Complaints of "having to ink up the bathmat" in order to use the 25-subject hand electros, poor impressions, and rising costs of devices led the Department to reduce the size of hand-applied electroplates to a 10-subject device. The "four impressions to a pane of 100 stamps" concept perished.
- 1934, September 25: The Third Assistant Postmaster General ordered all postmasters to cease precanceling postage-due stamps.
- 1937, March 1: The acting Third Assistant Postmaster General ordered postmasters not to issue precancel permits to collectors, stamp clubs, stamp dealers, etc., unless they were actually bona fide patrons of the post office involved.
- 1938, March 9: The Third Assistant Postmaster General ordered that thereafter no postage stamps over the 6-cent denomination be precanceled.
- 1938, March 18: The same man canceled the order of March 9, 1938!
- 1938, June 4: Following this back-down in the face of tremendous pressure from a nationwide group of this country's largest mailers Third Assistant Postmaster General Ramsey S. Black announced the "dating order". This order was so important to collectors that a lengthy quotation is in order. With saintly restraint I (Rolston Lyon) shall refrain from underlining or capitalizing the obvious stupidities.
"Referring to the order of March 9, as amended by the order of March 18, pertaining to precanceled stamps, notice is hereby given that while it is desired that the use of precanceled stamps over the 6-cent denomination be curtailed as much as possible their use on mail of the second, third, and fourth classes, and, where specially authorized in each case, on matter of the first class, will be permissable after July 1, 1938, provided the permit holders will print on each stamp above the upper of the two parallel black lines forming a part of the precancel indicia, their initials, together with the abbreviations of the month and year, ...
"The printing of these additional indicia on precancled stamps shall be from type of the same size as that used for the name of the post office and State, must be clear and bold, and shall be done by the permit holders at their expense. Indelible ink which cannot be washed off must be used. . . . .
"While it is preferred that not more than one stamp be used on the same piece of mail, matter bearing more than one stamp will not be refused, but this is not intended to permit patrons to use undated precancels for pieces or articles requiring more than 6 cents postage. There will be no objection to permit holders printing their initials and date on precanceled stamps below the 6-cent denomination.
Where a mailer has daily mailings consisting of a comparatively small number of parcels, there is no real advantage to the mailer or the postal service in using precanceled stamps and under such circumstances postmasters should discourage their use and endeavor in a tactful way to have mailers use ordinary uncanceled stamps on such mailings." . . . ."
- 1938, June 24: The Third Assistant Postmaster General advised postmasters that permit holders may use rubber stamps for printing their initials and date on precanceled stamps, provided that type is of the same size as that used for the name of the post office and State, and that the printing is clear and bold. Indelible black ink was required.
- 1938, July 1: Changes were made immediately in the specifications for the manufacture of precancel plates and handstamps, and all devices ordered and shipped to postmasters after July 1 were of the new narrow-spaced style -- with the exception of Bureau-printed precancels.
- 1940, August 12: After two years of dated precancels the Third Assistant Postmaster General found "gross negligence" in dating precancels. He complained of such specific irregularities as: Overprinting is illegible; Other than black indelible ink is used; No initials are shown, only the month and year; Overprinting was placed in a "hit-or-miss" manner diagonally across the stamp. The 3APMG was distressed!
- 1940, October 15: The Bureau of Engraving and Printing announced that in the future the line spacing of all Bureau-printed precancels would be cut approximately 3 millimeters, as requested by the Post Office Department. However bureaucracy took a long time to produce.
- 1941, March 1: The first narrow-spaced Bureau-printed precancels were shipped.
- Things settled down for a number of years, with the bathtubbers playing tag with the highly-trained Inspection Service, which was hyper-suspicious and totally ignorant where precancel matters were concerned.
- 1955, January: bi-color 8 cent Liberty printed directly from Ludlow cast slugs on a flatbed press. This process was also used for the Giori 8 cent and 11 cent stamps, the multicolor 8 cent Ike and the 13 cent Eagle and Shield stamp. Line spacing is about 1.5 mm closer together than the previous narrow type, style 71.
- 1957, June: Bureau precancels printed on web fed Huck and Huck-Cottrell presses using dry, pregummed paper and rubber precancel plates. ("dry process")
- 1958, June: In a continuing effort to cut costs, the Department accepted a low bid from a vinyl-rubber handstamp manufacturer, for 10-subject devices. (Clerks forgot how to use metal-faced devices, anyway. -JCF) Even while the contract for 10-subject hand electrotype devices was still in force orders were being issued for delivery on or after July 1 of the new devices.
- 1959, June - July 1961: The Big Blackout. No lists were issued by the Post Office Department for over two years, causing consternation among precancel collectors.
- 1963, July 1: Zip Code was introduced, but did not apply to precanceling devices. Those showing the numbers were of purely local origin, and not Government issued.
- 1964, October - January 1965: The Small Blackout, due to a misunderstanding between Headquarters and the area postal supply centers about supplying lists of devices ordered to central authority in Washington. Devices shipped during this period is indicated as "Winter 1964".
- 1965, late April: Two-letter, unpunctuated State abbreviations were introduced, without proper planning. (Early Nebraska stamps were precanceled "NB". This abbreviation was later given to New Brunswick, and Nebraska changed to "NE". -JCF)
- 1966, early: Ludlow slug set a single subject. This was reproduced photographically with a linofilm process to make multiples for the rubber plate.
- 1967, July 27: Part 142 of the Postal Manual ("Precanceled Stamps") was revised to permit the sale of precancels to collectors by postmasters, under certain conditions.
- 1968, July and August: The Hiatus. No approved contracts for the manufacture of electroplates or vinyl rubber handstamps were available for these two months. Orders, shipments, and lists were resumed in September 1968. Area supply centers had been reduced to two, at Wichita, KS, and Somerville, NJ.
- 1970: "Integral" Bureau precancels on Christmas stamps. The special service notation is part of the stamp printing itself and not applied in a separate operation.
- 1971, July 1: The United States Postal Service, a government corporation rather than an executive department of the federal government, took over all operations of the United States Post Office Department.
- 1974, October 23: Self stick Dove weather vane precancel Christmas stamps. Since there was no sealer layer between the gum and paper, the gum leaked through the top of the stamps. Most of these today are in poor condition.
- 1977, August: Videocomp photographic process for making rubber plates.
- 1978, September 21: National Bureau Print "lines only" type without city and state.
- 1980, February: Special Service Bureau precancels designed to be used on a particular class of mail. These are also valid at all post offices.
- 1985, September 26: A single horizontal line or type across the face of the stamp. NOTE: NO STAMPS WERE EVER ISSUED. Current regulations in P023, DMM still list this option.
- 1985: True "Integral" Bureau precancels introduced with the 18 cent Washington and Monument coil and the 21.1 cent Letter coil.
- 1985: Demise of Cottrell press. Printing shifted to "B" press, using sleeves rather than plates. These are multicolor presses, but the special service has been done so far only in red or black.
- 1986 - July 1988: Specially designed "Integral" Bureau on 5.5 cent Star Route Truck. "non" Service Inscribed versions also made for non-precancel collectors. Since this time, they have been service inscribed only. John Foster calls these "stealth" precancels, since there is no precancel to be seen. The stamps are still precancels by usage, and require a permit for sale or mailing.
- 1996: The Baumgarten Blackout. The contractor for vinyl precancel devices changed from Lloyd to Baumgarten. No notification of orders or standardization of devices was evident for at least a year. Several strange, unique devices were found and there may be more out there.
- 1997, Aug: The government device shipped to PLUM, TX was one of the first made under the new Baumgarten contract. My guess is that since the supply catalog picture of the 10 subject device impression is cut off and only shows 6 subjects, PLUM got a 6 subject device. It was also shrunk to match the approximate size of the picture, and coincidentally fits the tiny 13 cent Indian Head or Dolley Madison stamps issued 13 years earlier. This device turns precancelling, which was originally invented to cancel many stamps at a time, on its head. The whole 6 subject impression will fit on a 10 cent Soyuz stamp with room to spare. It gets stranger. Alden, NY, ordered a device. Since the supply catalog pictures "PALA CA" for item 762, that's what they got, but a 10 subject this time. Two impressions were made before the device was retrieved and sent back. PALA, CA was asked about it, but they never ordered one or wanted one.
- 2001-2003: Due to severe budget problems in the USPS, supervisors are allowing very few new precancel device orders. Pssst. Item 762 is ordered directly from Baumgarten on form 1567 by independent post offices if any office wants one, but I do not know the current price. If anyone in Texas orders one, the Texas Precancel Club will mail with it, if we find out about it.
- 2003: Friendship WI. "This office received a ten bar pre-canceling device in error. Since there is no functional need for the device in this office and to prevent intentionally creating philatelic rarities, the cancel has been destroyed." A few of us have impressions made soon after it was received...er...ahh...which creates a rarity.
|
|
