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2015 dumb cancel

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 4:05 pm
by Mike Jackson
This arrived today. Instead of being pen-cancelled, the stamps appear to have been handstamped. Is this cancel old, new, or is it a pen cancel made with a five-nibbed pen?! Best wishes, Mike

Re: 2015 dumb cancel

Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2015 10:38 pm
by mozzerb
I've been wondering about those too -- as it happens, George King explained them at the break during a PSS meeting on Saturday. :)

The gist of it is that postmen/women have been told to cancel stamps left uncancelled, and to do it using a cheap self-inking cancel of this type with five wavy bars. Apparently they are available in a bin at the sorting office, and they just pick one out and discard it when it runs out of ink.

Ed Caesley managed to get hold of a couple and sent one to the British Postmark Society to illustrate. If anyone has a copy of their October journal, perhaps they could copy the page(s)?