General
This is not an attempt to record a census of every stampless marking. Rather the census will focus primarily on towns which used unusual or fancy markings.
Individual town censuses are not always complete. Only certain types of markings may be represented. Those markings that are illustrated in the description are included. Others may be added later. Markings that are completely manuscript are not included.
In these censuses types refer to those listed in the 2012 CSA Catalog. When there is no type in the CSA Catalog the letters X, Y and Z are used to indicate an unlisted item.
Problems Preparing a Stampless Census
A census of stampless markings is from the start considerably more difficult than that of provisionals. The reason is that unlike postmasters’ provisionals, images of stampless covers are not readily available. Few were illustrated in catalogs of the 20th century, Fortunately this is changing but economics is always the driving factor. Those items of lesser value are not going to be illustrated when they are up against items of more value.
To make the censuses more accurate collectors are requested to submit images and information to webmaster
Counts
Reliable censuses of stampless covers do not exist. In the late 1970s and early 1980 Morris Everett published lists of the gross number of individual stampless markings he had collected since 1946. They were listed by the 1956 Dietz Catalog types and were not detailed lists, just numbers. Everett noted:
“One of the principal problems I’ve had in compiling my lists is that well meaning collectors have reported owning such and such handstamp paid covers, but they have failed to identify these holdings (as requested) by supplying the date in the canceller or the address details. This has meant that in a number of instances, I have had to assume that when later reports in full were made that they were referring to the unidentified covers. . .”
Further, Everett sometimes made errors in listing the types. As a result some figures in the censuses are estiamtes based on the data in the Everett lists.
As can be seen by Everett’s remarks and the type errors encountered, the count in his listings are not always as accurate as one would want. The Everett counts are only included in these censuses to give users an approximate idea of how many examples of a particular stampless marking were known 40 years ago.
Everett’s listings first appeared in the Dixie Philatelist as a series of articles in the summer of 1978 to the winter of 1980 issues. Later the articles were combined in the booklet Confederate Handstamped Paids published by the Confederate Stamp Alliance in 1981. An addendum, Confederate Handstamp Paids Addendum, was published by the Confederate Stamp Alliance in 1983. A second addendum was published in the July-August 1987 issue of the Confederate Philatelist.
The “Evertt Count” in these censuses are based on the two Everett booklets and the final article.