International or Early American Machine Cancel

U.S. Machine Cancel Identifier -- International or Early Amerian

The actual machine for your cancel mostly depends on the date in the dial. In 1894, the American company made machines that impressed several wavy lines on the stamp (the so-called killer). Later, nearer to 1900, you will see this type of cancel made by an International machine. The wavy line killer for both brands of machine show 7 lines.

American machine from 1894 (Notice that the lines point up when near the circular postmark, and the lines terminate quite close to the postmark. The space for the numerical die takes up 3 lines.)

[international machine]

International machine cancel (Notice that the lines point down when near the circular postmark, and that there is a larger gap between the lines and the postmark, compared with the earlier American. The space for the numerical die takes up only 1 line. International killers often had an extra diespace near the bottom, the letter 'c' in this case.)

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

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International or Early American Machine Cancel

U.S. Machine Cancel Identifier -- International or Early Amerian

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