Types of Stamp Cancellations & Postmarks: Part I


Precancels vs. Cancelled-to-Order (CTO) stamps:

Some stamp collectors may be a bit unclear about the difference between these two types of cancelled stamps, so we thought we'd give a bit of information about both of them. The key difference is that precanceled stamps are actually used on the mail.

Precancels:

Precanceled stamps are stamps that are cancelled before they're used on the mail. We know this might not make much sense, since stamps normally are cancelled after the mail they're on arrives at the post office for processing. But precancels were used in order to make mail processing faster - since the stamps were already canceled, the canceling process at the post office was bypassed.

Precancels were applied in one of two ways, either printed on the stamp or handstamped using a rubber stamp. In the US, precancels were printed by the federal government (usually called Bureau precancels, after the Bureau of Printing and Engraving), printed locally by local post offices, or handstamped at local post offices (not surprisingly, these latter two types are called local precancels). In the US and Canada, precancelled stamps were used for first class mail, parcel post and bulk mail. Some larger companies used them as a substitute for perfins - a security device to stop their employees from using the stamps for their personal mail or to sell. Precancels were generally used in other countries to mail newspapers.

Thousands of different precancels and varieties exist, and collecting precancelled stamps is both challenging and rewarding. Catalogs and lists of town precancelled stamps are readily available.


Canceled-to-Order (CTO) Stamps:

CTO stamps have been canceled by the issuing country's postal authority before their sale and are usually sold to stamp dealers for a reduced price. The stamp dealers then sell them to stamp collectors, often passing on their savings in the form of reduced prices. CTO stamps are not valid for postal use. They generally still have their full original gum, and the cancellations are almost always very neat and clear; often just a corner of the stamp is canceled so that the stamp design is not impacted. Many people collect CTO stamps because of their lower cost, and in fact the catalog prices for the stamps of some countries is for canceled-to-order stamps rather than postally used (which have a higher catalog value and cost more).

Many beautiful topical stamps are mainly available in CTO form. Don't turn your nose up at them, because they can be a way to inexpensively build a beautiful stamp collection.