U. S. Cancel Finder -- Find a Machine Cancel by Style

This set of postmark and killer groupings may make it easier to identify a machine cancellation. You may have clicked on a link to get here, or the “finder” has sent you here because your criteria don’t exactly match a known 1900-1920 U. S. machine cancel. Take a look at the following groups. Match up the format of the cancel (killer) with the postmark, and follow the appropriate link for more information.

There is a listing grouped by cancel (killer), and a listing grouped by postmark.

Postmark Types

These 3 different postmark types will be mentioned several times within this page, so it is best to become familiar with them.

Circle Postmark: [circle postmark]

Straight Line Postmark: [straight-line postmark]

Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: [oval postmark]

Listing Grouped by Killer (Cancel) Type

Follow down this listing, looking for a match with your killer (cancel) type. Each killer type will have one or more sub-entries that match each postmark type (see above). For instance, if your cancellation has a straight-line killer, and circular postmark, look down the list for that killer, then look below and/or across for the circular postmark entry. Follow the link(s) ( if any) to get more information.

Horizontal Bars (May Be In Pairs):

Circle Postmark: Try Here
Straight Line Postmark: Try Here
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Barry or
Time-Cummins

Wavy Lines:

Circle Postmark: Try Here
Straight Line Postmark: Barry or
Columbia
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Barry

Vertical Bars:

Circle Postmark: Try Here
Straight Line Postmark: Perfection
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Not Known

Diagonal Bars:

Circle Postmark: Constantine
Straight Line Postmark: Barry or
Hampden
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Barry

Vertical Bars and Horizontal Wavy Lines:

Circle Postmark: Columbia
Straight Line Postmark: Not Known
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Not Known

Dashed or Dotted Horizontal Lines:

Circle Postmark: Try Here
Straight Line Postmark: Perfection
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Not Known

American Flag (or flag-like) Plain or With Branch:

Circle Postmark: Try Here
Straight Line Postmark: Not Known (See Langford)
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Not Known (See Langford)

Herringbone Pattern:

Circle Postmark: Not Known
Straight Line Postmark: Potter-Vail
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Potter-Vail

Repeating Eagle Image:

Circle Postmark: Not Known
Straight Line Postmark: Milam-Holmes
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Not Known

Repeating Horizontal Bars and Dial:

Circle Postmark: Krag
Straight Line Postmark: Not Known in U.S.
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Not Known in U.S.

Service Marking (‘Received’, ‘Train Late’, etc):

Circle Postmark: Service Markings
Straight Line Postmark: Service Markings
Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark: Service Markings

Listing Grouped by Postmark Type

Follow down this listing, looking for a match with your postmark type. Each postmark type will have one or more sub-entries that match each killer type. For instance, if your cancellation has a circular postmark and straight-line killer, look down the list for the circular postmark group, then look below and across for the straight-line killer entry. Follow the link(s) ( if any) to get more information.

Circle Postmark:

Horizontal Bars (May Be In Pairs): Try Here
Diagonal Bars: Constantine
American Flag Plain or With Branch: Try Here
Repeating Horizontal Bars and Dial: Krag
Wavy Lines: Try Here
Vertical Bars and Horizontal Wavy Lines: Columbia
Herringbone Pattern: Not Known
Service Marking (‘Received’, ‘Train Late’, etc): Service Markings
Vertical Bars: Try Here
Dashed or Dotted Horizontal Lines: Try Here
Repeating Eagle Image: Not Known

Straight Line Postmark:

Horizontal Bars (May Be In Pairs): Try Here
Diagonal Bars: Barry or
Hampden
American Flag Plain or With Branch: Not Known (See Langford)
Repeating Horizontal Bars and Dial: Not Known in U.S.
Wavy Lines: Barry or Columbia
Vertical Bars and Horizontal Wavy Lines: Not Known
Herringbone Pattern: Potter-Vail
Service Marking (‘Received’, ‘Train Late’, etc): Service Markings
Vertical Bars: Perfection
Dashed or Dotted Horizontal Lines: Perfection
Repeating Eagle Image: Milam-Holmes

Oval (or Rounded Square) Postmark:

Horizontal Bars (May Be In Pairs): Barry or Time-Cummins
Diagonal Bars: Barry
American Flag Plain or With Branch: Not Known (See Langford)
Repeating Horizontal Bars and Dial: Not Known in U.S.
Wavy Lines: Barry
Vertical Bars and Horizontal Wavy Lines: Not Known
Herringbone Pattern: Potter-Vail
Service Marking (‘Received’, ‘Train Late’, etc): Service Markings
Vertical Bars: Not Known
Dashed or Dotted Horizontal Lines: Not Known
Repeating Eagle Image: Not Known

Frederick Langford’s Books

Where I refer to ‘Langford’ in this page, you should look for more information in the exhaustive studies of flag cancels, written by the late Frederick Langford. The remaining copies of his books are available from the Machine Cancel Society.

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Postmark Types#

Listing Grouped by Killer (Cancel) Type#