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Types of Cancellations Used on Postage Stamps
With cancellations, just as with postage stamps, there are many different types of cancellations. Normal cancellation date stamps are the most common and are used all over the world. They fulfill all basic functions and are seen in various shapes but the most common is the circular cancellation.
Airmail cancellations were originally marked with hand-written information. Later, special hand-stamps were introduced with a text denoting that the content was to be sent by air. Some cancellations included a text ‘Posta Aerea’, the silhouette of a plane or something similar. Then, special airmail labels were issued which adhered to the item to be posted.
Newspaper cancellations were invented as a newspaper tax was collected in some countries. The payment of this tax was confirmed with a special hand-stamp. In Austria, this was called a ‘Signet’. These are not normal postal cancellations, but predecessors of the newspaper tax stamps.
Official cancellations were used in a number of countries. Official mail was not franked with postage stamps and special hand-stamps were used on this type of mail. These hand-stamps denoted that such mail was official and free of postage.
Special cancellations were used to mark registered letters and were struck on mail in addition to the normal postal hand-stamp. There are special telegraph cancellations, telephone cancellations and pneumatic mail cancellations. When a letter was insufficiently franked and postage due was collected from the addressee, some post offices not only affixed the appropriate postage due labels but also used a cachet stating that the letter was insufficiently franked. There exist quite a large number of special cachets used by post offices. These include ‘Unknown’, ‘Return to Sender’, and ‘Zuruck’.
In contemporary society, specially printed labels are often used instead of these cachets and, in some places, the post office cancels them with the normal CDS (cancellation date stamp).
Travelling post office cancellations were used when mail coaches traveling with trains on the main lines used their own cancellations. Such cancellations usually had a text telling the train’s departure and arrival points or a number allocated to the traveling post office. Special cancellations were also used for automobile post. The first traveling post office was used by Baden in 1848.
Maritime cancellations were introduced before postage stamps were invented. Cachets with the text ‘Paquebot’ were common. Warships of some countries also had their own cancellations either with a number or the name of the ship.
Cancellations have gained favour in the philately world and some collectors take pride in their collection of stamps with special cancellations.
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