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On mail, a cancellation (or cancel for short) is a postal marking applied to a postage stamp or postal stationery indicating that the item has been used. Modern cancellations are often applied simultaneously with a postmark, for efficiency, and commonly the terms "cancellation" and "postmark" are used interchangeably, if incorrectly. (The confusion arises because of the practice of some postal administrations of applying the postmark directly on the stamp, at the cost of legibility.)
The term "killer" is sometimes used as a more vivid synonym for "cancel".
The introduction of postage stamps in 1840 and thereafter immediately engendered a need to clearly indicate that the stamp had done its service.
Many early cancellations were pen cancels, simply the use of a writing pen to deface the stamp, but before the days of ball-point pens, these took longer to apply than a handstamp , and most postal administrations required the use of cancellation devices, either supplied by the administration, handmade by the postmaster, or purchased from specialized suppliers. Handmade cancels were typically carved from cork and are known in a bewildering variety of creative designs, collectively known as fancy cancels. Pen cancels may still occasionally be seen (sometimes done with marker), typically when a postal clerk notices that a stamp has not been touched by the automated machinery (though there have sometimes been complaints by stamp collectors of redundant pen cancels by overzealous postal employees).
In the early period of the issuance of postage stamps in the United States a number of patents were issued for cancelling devices or machines that increased (or were purported to increase) the difficulty of washing off and reusing postage stamps. These methods generally involved the scraping or cutting-away of part of the stamp, or perhaps punching a hole through its middle. (These forms of cancellation must be distinguished from perfins, a series of small holes punched in stamps, typically by private companies as an anti-theft device.) See postage stamp reuse.
A lightly cancelled stamp would have the postmark on a corner or small portion of the stamp. As lightly cancelled stamps are in general more valuable than heavily-cancelled (exceptions, discussed below, may be bulls-eye cancellations and special or rare postmarks), collectors have at times rubber-stamped (or handwritten) "philatelic mail" or the like on their covers to get the postal clerk or mail processor to cancel the stamps lightly. (It was perhaps from concern that a conventional cancellation device would damage some of Tonga's early foil stamps that a rolling cancellation device was employed.)
A bulls-eye cancellation is a readable postmark which entirely or almost entirely is on the postage stamp. They are favored by stamp collectors because one can see the time, date, and location where the stamp was used. The prevalence of bulls-eye cancellations varies considerably by country and time period.
Cancellations may either be applied by hand or machine.
In addition to everyday cancellations there are pictorial cancellationPictorial cancellations in philately, are cancellations in which part of the cancellation or postmark or a combination of the two contains some sort of picture or image; the term is sometimes used, loosely and perhaps technically incorrectly, for cancellas, which as the name suggests contain pictures or images associated with the commemoration of an event or anniversary. Some people attempt to use stamps relating to the theme of a pictorial cancellation on the envelope [1]. First day of issueThe first day of issue is the day on which a postage stamp, postal card or stamped envelope is officially put on sale, usually in a particular city (usually within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority but sometimes from a temporary or p of a stamp or piece of postal stationery is another type of cancellation.
In the United States, while cancellations are nearly universally applied by the authority of the United States Postal ServiceUnited States Postal Service (USPS) is the United States government organization responsible for providing postal service in the United States and is generally referred to as "the post office. It was created to fulfill the mandate in the United States Con, it is legally possible to use one's own cancellations on a letter bearing United States postage stamps — if the letter is delivered by the sender, its employee (in the case of a company) or by a private delivery service following the requirements of the " Private Express StatutesThe Private Express Statutes (PES) are, a group of federal civil and criminal laws in United States (Title 18 United States Code sec. 1693 through sec. 1999 and Title 39 U. 601 through sec. 606 implemented under 39 Code of Federal Regulations 310 and 320)". Private cancellations have also been used in the context of local postA local post is a postal service that handles mail only within a limited geographical area, typically a city or a single transportation route. Historical, some local posts have been operated by governments, while others, known as private local posts haves and applied to artistampArtistamp refers to a postage stamp-like artform. It is similar to a cinderella, in that it is not valid for postage, but it differs from a forgery or a bogus stamp in that (typically) no intention is made to fool any post office or collector of stamps.s by their makers. Private cancellations have actually been used in Germany. Private cancellations are to be distinguished from private overprints.