West Haven Doane: New Early Date

Doane cancels are named after Edith Doane who studied this type of cancel in the mid part of the 1900s. Doanes were an attempt by the USPOD to standardize the types of cancels used by smaller post offices beginning about August 1903. There are 3 types of these cancels, sorted by the bars: Type 1 has 5 solid bars, Type 2 has 4 pairs of thin line while Type 3 has 4 thick parallel bars. Currently there are over 21,000 post offices recorded with Doane cancels. Vermont has 145 recorded post offices in the latest edition of the catalog edited by Richard W. Helbrock and Gary Anderson (2002).

The example from West Haven (Rutland County) is a new earliest use from that post office. The previous earliest use was October 22, 1906. One the reverse is a East Poultney Doane which is also the earliest reported use from that post office. The "1" in the bars means that the West Haven post office had business which amount to less than $100.00.

West Haven was a post office in 3 distinct periods: 1809-1888, 1888-1907, and 1907-1912. The DPO scarcity rating for the above cover "6" (very scarce) with a value of $50-$100 dollars. The Doane catalog rating is "3" (scarce). The Doane catalog doesn't list monetary values.