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Stamford Mercury Precancel?

Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:00 pm
by Theo
A member of the German Precancellation Society sent us the newspaper wrapper which bears the cancellation STAMFORD MERCURY 742 STAMFORD. Does anybody know whether these wrappers were cancelled beforehand by the Stamford Mercury and later wrapped around the newspapers? If so this would result in a precancel.

Transfer from previous board: original post 1973

Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:05 pm
by russell1307
Theo,
Not sure how much I can add but please see the attached extract from the booklet issued by the Swiss GB and Commonwealth Soc in 1998. Interestingly it says it was struck in red wheras yours is black.

Transfer from previous board: original post 1985

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 6:00 pm
by railwaynut
Image

Hi Theo,

The Stamford Mercury newpaper precancelled the stamps on their wrappers so the example shown is a definitely a precancel.

The firm had a group of clerks employed to precancel the wrappers and they were paid per quantity done. The top earner, after he had retired, was interviewed by the late Stitt Dibden who learnt that he had used the 'cloth covered handstamp' technique. Cancels struck through cloth display the fabric pattern as seen in the example shown. (I cannot lay my hands on the 'S.M.' example at the moment so have included a typical example to illustrate the appearance)

Stitt Dibden wrote an interesting article on 'cloth covered cancels' about 40 years ago which included a Stamford Mercury precancel which had been struck through cloth. All of the other examples of cloth covered cancels were predominently Victorian with only a handful after 1900 so Stitt Dibden was eager to meet and talk to the retired 'S.M.' employee who obviously knew how it was done.

The chap explained he had kept the method secret as he could cancel many more stamps than the other workers and was therefore higher paid. The other workers had to hit the inkpad every time before cancelling each stamp.

He had a piece of silk tied around the head of his canceller which, when struck once on the inkpad, allowed numerous cancels to be made before it was necessary to hit the inkpad again.

I have supplied an article on cloth cancels to the GBPS journal Editor which should appear soon.

Fred

Transfer from previous board: original post 1986

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2011 6:05 pm
by Theo
Dear Russel,dear Fred,

thank you very much for your response. That makes things very clear.

Fred, I hope you are well and have found a secure place for your passport. Hope to see you all in London (STAMPEX) in February.

Best wishes

Theo