|
The term dated is a general term meaning any precancel that has a dating (initials and date) on it. The dated precancel
was made necessary when the Post Office Department ruled that all precancels above the 6 cent denomination should show the
user’s initials and the date being used. This ruling went into effect in July 1938. The Post Office Department thought
this ruling was necessary to prevent the reuse of high value precancels.
The dated controls are bureau or city type precancels that have the dating added separately to them. This dating can be
printed on the precancels thus creating printed controls (type set printing press). It can be handstamped ( rubber stamp or
roller) on the precancel creating handstamp controls. The Intergal precancels are made with a device that does the precancelling
(city and state) and the dating (initials and date) in one and the same operation to the plain stamps.
The heaviest usage of dateds was from July 1938 through the World War II years. The large mail order companies (Montgomery
Ward and Sears) used them on into the 1960. Another note is that payment for orders was commonly made with postage stamps.
These stamps were sent to the mail room precanceled and used on the outgoing mail. This practice lead to a wide verity of
stamp issues precanceled.
You can collect dateds in several ways.
- A type collection of one example of each type
- General collection of each face different stamp and different date
- A denomination collection as shown in this example
|
