American Wavy-Line Machine Cancel (Not Flag)

U.S. Machine Cancel Identifier -- American Wavy-Line Killer (Not Flag)

Your machine cancel was made by a machine sold by the American Postal Machine Company. The most common, and most popular collected machine is the American flag cancellation. This type, however, has the same dial as many flag machines, but the killer is made up of wavy lines. There is another type (far less common) with a 6-bar straight-line killer.

The wavy-line American cancels are seen quite commonly from Philadelphia, and a few are seen from Berkeley, California. It is said that the Philadelphia cancels were designed without the flag design to satsify the requests of the pacifist Quakers of that area. These cancels are seen from around 1896 to 1910. I have seen one example from Highland Park, Illinois, dated in 1915.

American Machine with Dial of Flag Cancel, but with Horizontal Wavy Bar Killer

There is a bit more information available about these machines on my Machine Web page.

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American Wavy-Line Machine Cancel (Not Flag)

U.S. Machine Cancel Identifier -- American Wavy-Line Killer (Not Flag)

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