The International Machine Cancel Society

April 18, 2010

Special Edition of the Forum for the Garfield-Perry March Party

[annual meeting] Special 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.

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.

Machine Cancel Society on Facebook!

[special edition MCF] Check Us Out!

Our Society now has a page on Facebook. Come visit, and you can comment, provide news items, post images of machine cancels, and on and on.

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

[special edition MCF] Special Edition of MCF in Honor of Reg Morris

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 old-time members who were leaders of both our hobby and our Society.

APS Show Special Edition of Machine Cancel Forum

[new projects] Special Edition of Machine Cancel Forum

The APS show 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 to produce a special edition of the Machine Cancel Forum just for the show. Copies of this special edition were made available to the general collecting community at the show. Now, electronic copies of the special edition Machine Cancel Forum are now available on this website. Try:
The entire Forum as a single PDF file [9 megabytes]
Individual PDF files for each article in the special Forum edition [9 megabytes]

New Society Electronic Projects

[new projects] Electronic Material Now Available

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 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

[new edition of flag cancel encyclopedia] New Edition of An Important Reference Book

The Flag Cancel Encyclopedia has been 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 for $53 (postage for US delivery is included). Send orders to:

Frederick Langford
184 Virginia Ave
Pasadena CA 91107

Modern Flag Machine

[modern flag machine] Flag Cancel Available

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

[boston machine cancel exhibit] Exhibit Now Available Online

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

[ohio townlist of universal machine cancels] New Publication Now Available Online!

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!

[limited time book offer] Miller's From Hinrichsen to Krag -- $58 PPD

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 List of Publications About Machine Cancels

[new publication list] Most Recent Publication Sales List

Members of the Society have created a large number of publications about machine cancels, their inventors, manufacturers, and the markings themselves. This is an important goal of the Society: passing along critical knowledge. The publications are for sale to both members and the general public. Machine Cancel Society members receive a discount on the publications they purchase. The following Adobe Acrobat file has the current pricelist of publications offered by the Machine Cancel Society. The current list is dated 2008. Take a look and you should find just the book you are looking for. (Do you need an Adobe PDF reader? Its free! Download it from Adobe's website.)

Selected Articles From the Machine Cancel Forum

[articles on machine markings] Here are links to some selected articles that appeared in previous editions of the Society's newsletter Machine Cancel Forum.

Information About the Machine Cancel Society

Learn more about the Machine Cancel Society at this page.

Society Auctions

The Society offers regular auctions of machine cancel material. Remember, you must be a member of the MCS to bid in our auctions. The lot descriptions of some of the auctions below are contained in Adobe Acrobat PDF Files that can be viewed and printed. (Do you need an Adobe PDF reader? Its free! Download it from the Adobe website.)

The Society operates regular auctions of machine-cancel material. Some of the other previous auctions are listed here: November 2007 auction, November 2004 auction, Early 2004 auction, Early 2003 auction, Early 2002 auction, Late 2002 auction, Buckland Auction One, and Buckland Auction Two.

Cover of the Month [NEEDS A RESTART!]

[cover of the month] In 2004, we started a new feature on the MCS website: "The Cover of the Month". Currently, we do not have any new material and need your help! Please send a scan and information on your interesting machine cancel. It doesn't have to be rare or expensive to be interesting; that is one of the great things about machine cancel collecting. Go to the Cover of the Month page to see all of the covers we've published so far.

New WW II APO Book

[new book now available] 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.

Officers, Directors, and Study Group Leaders

Need to communicate with an officer of the Society? Identify a machine cancel? Take a look at a list of officers of the Machine Cancel Society, as well as specific study group leaders of the Society.

Application for Membership

We need you! If you are not already a member, please consider joining us. Our Machine Cancel Society membership application form is simple. Just fill it out, and mail it in!

Society News Items

As issues come up from time to time, related to the Society, this page will keep you informed. Also any news items of interest for the website will be included. Our Machine Cancel Society news page has timely information. Current items are dated December 25, 2009.

Machine Cancel Database

The Society has a long-term project to build a database of all known machine cancels. The linked page describes some of the results already achived with this project.

On-Line Edition of The Machine Cancel Forum

As an experiment, we put most of the content from an issue of The Machine Cancel Forum on-line for your reading enjoyment. The sample issue of the Machine Cancel Forum is available for your to preview some of the interesting articles that appear in our newsletter.

Machine Cancel Links

What's a web page without links? Our link page has links to other machine cancel websites.

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