County Postmaster Cancel

There are only two Vermont post offices that used BOTH a County Name and the Postmaster name in a cancel: South Wardsboro and Cambridgeport.

In the Doane-Thompson monograph "Catalog of U.S. County and Postmaster Postmarks" edited by Kenneth L. Gilman (David G. Phillips Publishing Co., 1990), there is a reproduction of a sales pamphlet by F. P. Hammond & Co. of Aurora, Illinois from the 1880s. Postmark No. 532 shows the same type of cancel used by South Wardsboro and a few other post offices (less than 40) throughout the country. The postmark included a Wheel of Fortune canceler for the stamp.

According to writer Bill Lizotte in the August 2009 issue of The Vermont Philatelist, South Wardsboro is fairly scarce with only 2 or 3 examples known. Fletcher, Illinois was another post office that used this type of cancel.

If you interested in Vermont Postal History, you should belong to the Vermont Philatelic Society. Its website is http://www.vermontps.org .

Brookfield (Orange County) Vermont Cancel

One of the more popular postal history collecting interests are cancels that show County Names and/or Postmaster Names.

Vermont postal historian Bill Lizotte did a recap of all such Vermont cancels in the August 2009 issue of The Vermont Philatelist. In his listing Brookfield (Orange County) is one of the rarer examples from Vermont. Yesterday at the Stamp Show in Quechee, I purchased the above Return Registered-Letter Receipt. This is the only example of this postmark known. It was originally reported in The Vermont Philatelist in August 1970. As a matter of fact, lightly penciled on the back of the receipt is a notation that the example is unique and had been reported to the VPS.

This item fits into 2 of my collecting interests: County/Postmaster cancels as well as Star Cancels.

If you interested in County/Postmaster cancels, the Vermont Philatelic Society website has a complete recap of all the current information: http://www.vermontps.org/CountyPostmaster/VTCountyPostmaster.html