The Admiral Stamps of Canada

Cancels


A cancel, or cancellation, is any mark applied to a stamp to prevent its re-use for postal purposes. The following information is not the result of an exhaustive study of all of the cancels that may be found on stationery related to the Admiral Issue. It does provide, however, a summary, or overview of the cancels most frequently used and may be used as a checklist or as a means of gaining an insight into this area of study.

International Rapid Machine Circular Squared Circle
Rings Split Rings Bars
Corks Crowns Roller
Duplex Straight Line Railway Post Offices
Registered Field Post Office Censors
Paquebot Revenue Struck Through Cloth
Letter Carrier Departments Streets
War Tax Paid Free
Way Letter Postage Due Returned
Parcel Slogans Spare

International Rapid Machine Type

This type of cancel is characterized by wavy lines incorporating numbers and letters. Different numbers and letters exist. The authors of this Web site would appreciate any information pertaining to the meaning of the numbers. (It is presumed that they identify particular postal sub-stations.) Of the letters, "C" stands for mail that was picked up at city mail boxes, "D" for mail dropped at post offices, "R" for miscellaneous letters received, and "T" for mail that transited through a post office from an outside location.

Examples of International Rapid Machine Cancels

Circular Type

The Circular type of cancel may be found with up to three rings with differing diameters, printed with dotted or solid lines.

Single ring types, containing the name of the city and province, or perhaps the name CANADA, were used mainly for advertisements and drop letters (letters meant to be delivered by the post office where they were delivered).

The town of Lucan, Ontario, used a unique circular cancel with an inside split ring.

Example of Circular Cancels

Squared Circle

Squared circles on Admirals are few in number. Approximately 20 examples are known to exist, the most common being Ottawa.

Rings

Four different rings have been found on Admiral stamps: a single ring type, a double one enclosing a large dot in the centre, and six and seven ring types. The single and seven ring type are the rarest.

Split Rings

A few cities, especially in Quebec, cancelled stamps using split ring types.

Example of Split Ring Cancels

Bars

Bar cancels, so called because of their thick lines, resembling the bars of a jailhouse window, are often found in conjunction with duplex and slogan cancels. Some may be found standing alone, however. Besides the regular heavy bar types, there are two other unique types: a "button" cancel from St. Jacobs, Ontario, and rectangular bars from West Milton, Ontario.

Example of Bar Cancels

Cork Cancel

Although cork cancels are usually associated with Canada's earlier issues, a few cancellations of this type may be found on the Admirals.

Crown Cancel

Although scarce, the Ottawa crown cancel may be found on Admiral stamps.

Roller Cancel

The roller cancel was used extensively. A number of varieties exist, consisting of vertical bars with the city and provincial names appearing within the bars, and sometimes a number between the bars. They also exist showing street names, registration numbers, railways, stations and postal terminals.

The Duplex Cancel

Duplex cancels were invented to enable envelope postmarks and stamp cancels to be applied in a single action by postal clerks. There are duplex cancels that feature fancy designs, and others that incorporate numbers and letters, with the city of Montreal having been the main user of this type.

Cancels depicting the Montreal numbers are only found within thick bars. The ones with letters, however, can be found both with thick bars and with thin wavy lines. Numbers 1 to 13 and letters A to J were used.

Straight Line Cancel

This is only included for completeness as no example of this type of cancel is available at this time for illustration. It is believed, however, that a few straight line cancels may have been used for emergency purposes.

Railway Post Offices

There were many railway post offices during the Admiral era, and approximately 50 different railway cancel designs are known to exist.

Registered

There are many kinds of Registered cancels, with a large R inside of an oval. Black ink was used most of the time, although some were made in blue or violet.

Another type is the rectangular box cancel showing the large R on the left, with the name of the city at right on top, and with "Original No. at the bottom. Some other box varieties depict the large R, date and city.

Still other types have single rings with the city and large R at the bottom. Double rings also can be found.

Lastly, another interesting type depicts the word Registered in large, outline lettering.

Examples of Registered Cancels

Field Post Office

A Field Post Office is one used by the armed forces. Two special Field Post Office cancel types are associated with the Admiral era: ones used at various camps where militia postmarks were applied, and the rarer expeditionary force cancels.

The cancels originating from the field are identified by an alphanumeric code that appeared at the bottom of a double ring. "3X", for example, would identify the cancellation as having originated in 3 Brigade.

Censors

There are two general categories of censor cancels. One is found on First World War Prisoner of War mail. This cancel, which was usually applied to the cover and not the stamp, depicted the date and name of the internment camp. The other is a censor mark that was applied to covers of letters sent from military theatres of operations. They were applied at the unit level before shipping to a Field Post Office for sorting and forwarding.

Example of Military Censor Cancels

Paquebot

These cancels were made on packet boats. Besides being associated with small parcels, "packets" refer to mail dispatched to or received by packet-boats, which were mail-carrying vessels that ran on prescribed schedules.

Revenue

Postage stamps, including Admirals, have often been used for revenue purposes, to pay for administration charges, etc. When they were used in this way, they were cancelled with many different designs.

Struck Through Cloth

Cancels that were made through a cloth or from a cloth covered inkpad show a blurred lettering from the weave of the cloth.

Letter Carrier

This rare marking indicates cancellaton by a "Letter Carrier's Branch."

Departments

Extremely rare, a cancel exists showing "Department of Interior Ottawa" in an oval along side a single ring Ottawa Canada cancel, all in blue.

Street Cancellations

As cities grew, they needed to establish sub-post offices to cope with the volume of mail. Many cancels depict these locations by street name.

War Tax

When the war tax was imposed, some post offices were probably unprepared, and a number of war tax related cancels were made reading "War Tax Stamp," "Returned for War Tax," etc.

Paid

These are revenue cancels in black, violet and blue.

Free

This cancel depicts the word FREE used in conjunction with other cancel types.

Way Letter

A way letter, or way bill, is a list of goods sent in the care of a common carrier, such as a railroad. This cancel simply reads WAY LETTER inside a single ring.

Postage Due Cancels

Letters that did not have sufficient postage were cancelled with the amount of postage due to be paid in large numbers.

Returned

There are many design types indicating reason for the return of a letter: Address Unknown, Moved, Unclaimed, etc.

Parcel

Stamps used on parcels were marked with special cancels.

Slogans

Slogan cancels may be found with an almost endless number of designs, usually advertising special events or reminding the public about various things.

Examples of Slogan Cancels


Updated: 1 Nov 97