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96:, and so clerks began to carve a groove across the middle of the cork, making two semicircles. Further enhancements included two grooves cut crosswise (the four-piece "country pie"), and then two more, for the eight-segment "city pie", and notches cut out of the outer edge to lighten the cancel further.
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The carving process seems to have sparked the creativity of clerks across the country, and soon thousands of designs appeared, ranging from shields to skulls to stars, geometrical shapes, animals, plants, and devils with pitchforks. Among the most common fancy cancel designs are
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The fancy cancels have since been studied and categorized by specialists. Many types are quite common, and command only a small premium, while others are rare. Not all have been discovered yet; previously unknown cancels continue to surface regularly.
85:, but it was left up to them to decide exactly how to do this, and not infrequently clerks would use whatever was at hand, including pens and "PAID" handstamps left over from the pre-stamp era.
152:. Canadian cork cancellations are famous for their fancy designs. Cork cancellations can be found on stamps issued by British Colonies including the Cape of Good Hope.
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post office was the master of the practice, and turned out new cancels for every holiday and special occasion. Their "Waterbury
Running Chicken" cancel, perhaps a
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dipped in ink. These worked well, but would tend to blot out the entire stamp making it difficult to check the
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Fancy cancels exist for many other countries besides the US. Outside the US they are normally termed
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of 1869, was in use for only a few days and is now the most prized of all 19th century cancels, with
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that include artwork, it primarily refers to the designs carved in
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issued new regulations standardizing the form of cancellations.
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US 2-cent stamp of 1870, cancelled with a leaf shape in blue ink
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The era of fancy cancels came to an end in the 1890s, when the
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185:(British North America Philatelic Society Ltd., Ottawa 2007)
172:(British North America Philatelic Society, Toronto 1963).
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183:Fancy cancels on Canadian stamps 1855 to 1950
88:A number of offices began to use cork bottle
207:Cancellations of the Banknote Era 1870-1894
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81:were required to deface them to prevent
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213:United States Cancellations 1845-1869
77:were introduced in the US in 1847,
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238:Philately of the United States
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132:Assorted Fancy Cancels, 1870s
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124:fetching very high prices.
116:since it appeared close to
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200:19th Century Fancy Cancels
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62:and used in 19th century
108:of varying designs. The
228:Philatelic terminology
139:Post Office Department
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110:Waterbury, Connecticut
54:may be used of modern
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56:machine cancellations
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198:Herst and Sampson,
150:cork cancellations
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211:Skinner and Eno,
43:that includes an
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118:Thanksgiving
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94:denomination
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64:post offices
41:cancellation
39:is a postal
37:fancy cancel
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168:K. M. Day,
79:postmasters
18:Cork cancel
222:Categories
156:References
90:stoppers
45:artistic
193:Sources
106:crosses
66:of the
122:covers
114:turkey
48:design
102:stars
83:reuse
73:When
104:and
60:cork
52:term
224::
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35:A
20:)
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