The International Machine Cancel Society Archived News Items

January 8, 2012

Society Announcements for 2011

Check the linked page for official Society announcements made in advance of calendar year 2011: Machine Cancel Society Announcements for 2011.

New Auction Manager for the Machine Cancel Society (2/22/2011)

Welcome to Don Pearson, as the Society's new Auction Manager. Please send material directly to Don for the new, upcoming auctions:

Don Pearson
20 Telford Avenue
Dayton OH 44519

Auction Closed November 22, 2011

The Machine Cancel Society auction, which closed November 22, 2011, offered material from the machine cancel collections of David Hewett and James Mason, along with some items from Langford's extensive collection. You can still view the auction listings at: Machine Cancel Society Auction, Closed November 22, 2011 (PDF), Machine Cancel Society Auction, Closed November 22, 2011 (HTML), Machine Cancel Society Auction, Closing November 22, 2011 (EPUB), Machine Cancel Society Auction, Closing November 22, 2011 (MOBI). Lot images available at: List of Images of Lots for Machine Cancel Society Auction Ending 11/22/2011.

[columbia machine cancellation]

Auction Closed August 23, 2011

The special auction for 2011, set up by our Auction Manager, Don Pearson, offered plenty of material for the machine cancel collector. This auction closed August 23, 2011, but you may still view the listing.

Download the auction listing as a PDF file at Machine Cancel Society Auction, Closing August 23, 2011

[boston flag cancellation]

2010 Garfield-Perry Show Special Edition of The Machine Cancel Forum

The Annual General Meeting of The Machine Cancel Society was held at Cleveland, Ohio, on Saturday, March 20, 2010, and was quite a success. Our intrepid editor created a special edition of The Machine Cancel Forum for this event, which is a fantastic document. Parts of the MCF are in color, something we cannot normally do for the general newsletter. The content is a fascinating study of "unknown" possible-machines used for cancelling mail. Take a look at this Special Edition Garfield-Perry Machine Cancel Forum.

This PDF file has not been converted to the MOBI file for Kindle (tm), but we have created a special version of the PDF file that reads quite well on the Kindle (especially when viewed horizontally). Try: Special Edition Garfield-Perry Machine Cancel Forum ["narrow margin version", 8MB PDF file].

Since the subject matter of this MCF contains many conjectures and guesses, the research associated with these "possible" machine cancellations is on-going. The editor solicits your input, your suggestions, and any new finds that you make of these fascinating types of cancellations. Please contact our editor, A J Savakis at the following email address (in plain English):

mcsforum < at > embarqmail < dot > com

Special Edition of the Machine Cancel Forum for the 2009 APS StampShow

The APS StampShow, held in Pittsburgh in August 2009 was a great success. Many members and officers of the Machine Cancel Society attended the show, as well as the Annual Meeting. In addition, the Society ran a great information booth on the show floor. Our editor worked very hard, and created a special edition of the Machine Cancel Forum. Electronic copies of this special edition are available as PDF files, including: the entire Forum as a single PDF file [9 megabytes] and individual PDF files for each article in the special Forum edition [9 megabytes].

Also, this special edition of the Forum has been converted to the "MOBI" format, which is compatible with the Amazon Kindle (tm). Interested Kindle owners should try downloading the Special Edition 2009 Stampshow Machine Cancel Forum [16 megabyte .mobi file].

Special Edition of MCF in Honor of Reg Morris and Boy Scouting

The December 2009 Special Issue of the Machine Cancel Forum has been mailed out on the Centennial of the Boy Scouts of America. It is dedicated to Reg Morris who was very involved in Scouting.

In recent years, we have lost many founding members who were leaders of both our hobby and our Society.

New Society Electronic Projects

[See Updated Article!]

Based on various experiments being made by your Society, there are now additional resources available on-line to access articles and helpful material for machine cancel collectors. For instance,

Bob Swanson has written an article on extracting cancellations (and other markings) from scans of covers and postcards. The article can be downloaded from the Society website [PDF file]

Bob has also written an article on using Google Book Search for historical research. This research work can assist with our collecting interests. The article about Google Book Search is also located on the Society website [PDF file]

The cancel extraction article is also available using Google Documents. The Google set of tools allow you to upload documents from your computer to your Google account. The documents can then be edited on-line. You can download the current version back to your computer for local storage. By offering on-line editing of a document, you can work on your want lists, articles, checklists, etc., from any internet connection, and you don't have to be at your home computer.

A very important feature of the Google Documents tool, is that your documents can be shared with a variety of other computer users: the "world", or just a small set of users. In addition, it is possible to allow selected users to alter the document on-line. This type of collaboration could be quite helpful to our Society. You don't need a Google mail account to view documents that are shared, but it would be a good idea to sign up for a Google Mail account, so that you can store (and edit) your documents on-line.

The Flickr website is a large common storage area for images. When first created, the site was for photographs only. Now, any image, including scanned images can be stored on the site. A free account is available that lets you upload 200 photographs or other images. If you want to store more than the free 200 images, the cost for an unlimited account is quite modest. Bob has also posted some scans of stamps and cancellations. Now, there are scans of rare cancellations from our past-president Don Pearson. Note that the images can be entirely private, or opened up for all the world to see.

Note that Flickr is also a collaboration site. Each image may have any number of comments posted with it. These comments create a "history" about the image, which would be very useful for postal history. Each commenter can add their own outlook on the subject, and can include other images in their posts. In addition, Flickr users can create "groups" for the posting of images. Each Flickr group (or pool) also provides an area for discussion, much like an electronic bulletin board. Group pools also provide the ability to have a completely private pool of images, with access restricted to only a specific list of Flickr users.

Finally, we have investigated the website called "Slideshare". This site allows you to upload and store documents for free. You can then share them with the world. For instance, a previous Machine Cancel Forum article about stamps and Cub Scouts has been stored there, along with some other previous articles. Take a look!

Fourth Edition of the Flag Cancel Encyclopedia

The Flag Cancel Encyclopedia was the life's work of Frederick Langford. The Third edition has been an absolute must have for machine cancel collectors for many years. Now, after decades of work, a new edition is available. You may order it direct from Frederick Langford's estate for $53 (postage for US delivery is included). Send orders to:

Frederick Langford
184 Virginia Ave
Pasadena CA 91107

Modern Flag Machine

A flag machine is in current use in Warren, Ohio, and collectors can receive cancels by requesting them from the postmaster. If you would like a copy of the Warren, Ohio, United States, flag machine cancel, you are welcome to send a properly franked enveope or card to:

US FLAG CANCEL
c/o Postmaster
Warren OH 44482

for cancellation. It will be posted the next time the International HD2 is in use. You can also request that your covers be posted for September 11th and Veterans Day November 11th, as these mailing dates are already scheduled.

Your cards and envelopes need to be addressed, and will pass through the mails unprotected from sprays and other cancels, unless you supply a larger return envelope for philatelic return. There is no charge for this cancellation. It is the Warren community's pleasure to make this cancel available for public use.

William Barlow's Award-Winning Boston Machine Cancel Exhibit

Our Society's Past President, William Barlow, Jr., has produced an award-winning exhibit (2008 Indypex GOLD) on the history of machine cancels used in Boston, Massachusetts. Most collectors of machine cancels will recognize that Boston was a major center for experimentation with new machines, and study of American flag machines used in this city alone offers an amazing variety. The exhibit goes well beyond the American company and is a useful education for both new and experienced machine cancel collectors. The Boston Machine Cancel Exhibit is now available online here at the MCS website.

Ohio Town List of Universal Machine Cancels

A new machine cancel publication: the Ohio Town List of Universal Machine Cancels is now available online here at the MCS website. The document was prepared for the first Universal Symposium held at the Trumbull Philatelic Exhibition in 2008. This publication was prepared for the educational use of Machine Cancel Society members and its guests at the Symposium and this web site. Use of this document is restricted, see the Ohio Townlist front material for the exact license wording.

Limited-Time Book Offer!

The new Miller book (Second Edition) From Hinrichsen to Krag is available in only limited quantities, as received at the Machine Cancel Society. We are selling them as a service at $58, postpaid USA. Shipping to Europe or Oceana will be an additional $15 postage. If you want the book shipped with your October Forum, send a $58 check to Gary Carlson and on the same day send an email to Alex Savakis (mcsforum < at > embarqmail < dot > com) saying you paid for a book. This offer is only available to Society members.

How good is the new edition? Glad you asked. The book is beautiful, with full color on glossy paper. Each page has both German and English, arranged so as not to distract. The left column and to the left of each picture is the German text. The right column and to the left of each picture is the corresponding English. Quite frankly, one can compare each English and German sentence it is that well organized. I had assumed correctly that even for a US collector, the information would be useable. There is a section on Columbia and Internationals used in Germany. It is very complete and user friendly. Lots of pictures of machines and covers. So if you want a book "el pronto" send a check on or before Tuesday, September 16 to Gary Carlson and an email to me, Alex Savakis (mcsforum < at > embarqmail < dot > com), saying you sent the money to Gary, and both book and Forum go out in the same package. Gary's Address is:

Gary Carlson
3097 Frobisher Avenue
Dublin OH 43017

New WW II APO Book

The "classic" triumvirate: Bart Billings, the late Bob Payne, and Reg Morris have completed a WW II Book of APOs, the result of over 10 years effort. Here is an article about the APO book, giving more details about its contents, and how you can order a copy.

Possible EKU for Camp Perry, Ohio Flag

Your webmaster has come upon a possible EKU for the Camp Perry, Ohio American flag cancel. The primary reason for the "possible" is the poor quality of many of these cancels. This one is missing the day, but the postcard message says that it is the first of September (1917) so that puts us pretty close. A scanned image is here.

Since this machine is quite uncommon, it is easy to display a list of all reported items here:

One item from 1917, month and day not clear
September, 1917, day not clear (Saw illustration, attrib. Billings)
September 7, 1917, month/day not clear
November 1917, day not clear (previously Ockun, 2 cent stamp)
November 2, 1917 (saw)
November 23, 1917 (have)
December, 1917, day not clear
December 7, 1917 (from Ockun list (1991))
December 10, 1917 (La Posta auction, day not clear)
June 17, 1918
June 21, 1918
June 26, 1918
July 15, 1918
August 10, 1918
September 5, 1918 (have)
September 20, 1918
October 2, 1918
October 3, 1918

Main Machine Cancel Society Web Page

Contact information for the Society's President.

Web pages designed and executed by The Swanson Group .