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United States/Covers & Postmarks : Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

 

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Walden
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12 Apr 2011
10:22:42pm
I was wondering if a catalogue or catalogues exist for APO/FPO cancels. I notice that some stamp collectors are able to identify where a particular cover was canceled based on its APO number. This is an area of collecting that I know next to nothing about. Any references for guidebooks, catalogues, or other information would be greatly appreciated.

Along the same lines, I often find covers from the WWII era with censor cancels--what reference works should I consult to identify these?
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Parkinlot
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13 Apr 2011
10:10:21am
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

I found a pretty good site. Not sure what all the columns represent though...

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/apo_number.htm

Bob

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Amraambob

14 Apr 2011
12:44:17am
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

There is one great reference it is "A Postal History/Cancellation Study of the US Pacific Islands" By Robert T Murphy. It was printed by the APS in 1983 and is a great reference. It might still be available from the APS or some of the major literature dealers, James Lee, Phil Banser, or even Subway may have copies for sale.

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amsd
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14 Apr 2011
04:59:46am

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re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

there are at least 2 others. One by Helbock lists all known APOs and BPOs from the second world war; another lists them through about 2000. I'll get the titles for you in another post. They list the unit, when known, dates of operation, etc. The former also lists relative value.

David

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amsd
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14 Apr 2011
02:03:41pm

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re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

here's one of the catalogues I referenced earlier:

A Price Guide to US APO cancels of the Second World War, by Jim Forte and Richard Helbock. it's available from LaPosta publications, and is essential as a starting point for collectors of WWII army mail (sorry, no USCG, Navy, or Marines; and the AF didn't exist as a separate entity until either 47 or 49).

There's still lots of research to be done; for instance this text has dates but no units for many APOs and BPOs.

David

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Rhinelander
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14 Apr 2011
09:02:25pm
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Hi folks,

I am collecting some WWII items and can name a few resources. I will stick to those that I own and thus can actually speak to.

David already mentioned Forte's and Helbock's "Price Guide to US APO cancels of the Second World War." It is inexpensive and I recommend it. Personally, I do not use it much. First, Jim Forte, one of the authors, has made the book (almost all of it) available online on his postal history website. Here is the link:

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/

This gets you pretty much all of the frontmatter of the book, which gives a good introduction. At the bottom of the page is a link that will then take you to the actual listings, organized by APO number or location, which is the link already posted by Bob (above):

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/apo_number.htm

The introduction explains the meaning of the columns (rarity and demand scales) in that listing.

There are two major differences between the printed book and the free online listing: the book has the time periods for each location and gives the name of the unit associated with that APO (if known). For instance, for APO 1 the free listing lists

0001 Algeria 2 1 MV
0001 Belgium 2 3 $5.00
0001 England 2 1 MV
0001 France 2 2 MV
0001 Germany 2 4 $7.50
0001 Sicily 2 3 $5.00
0001 Tunisia 2 1 MV

In the print version it will tell you that APO 1 belonged to the 1st Infantry Division and that it was in England/Scotland from Aug 7, 1942 to Oct 22, 1942, then in Algeria from Nov. 8, 1942 to July 5, 1943 etc. In the free listing, you do not have the actual dates and since the locations are alphabetized, they are also not even in the right order.

In my opinion, the entire pricing in the book is bogus, but this is a separate topic. I post this one and then turn to the next reference.

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Rhinelander
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14 Apr 2011
10:12:32pm
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

I notice, my above post has crossed with Walden's response to the earlier postings, but let's carry on ..

A signifcant improvement over Forte/Helbock is Russ Carter, Numbered Army & Air Force Post Office Locations, Volume 1 BPOs, PRSs, & Regular APOs 1941-1964. Most recent, I believe, is the 7th edition (2001). It is also not expensive. Googling , I am sure, will turn up a vendor.

I know a similar reference exists from other authors, but I own this one, so I will stick to discussing it. This 300 page large format reference is 95% pure numbers. You will find for each APO the specific locations for the time period covered. In 1964, APOs were replaced with ZIP codes (APO 10 became APO '96210'), thus providing a natural cut-off point for the book.

Continuing our example for the 1st Division, APO 1, we learn that it departed Glasgow, Scotland on Oct 22, 1942 to be re-established in Arzew, Algeria, November 8, 1942, moving to Oran, November 19, 1942, then Tebessa, in April 1943, Oran, again, May 14, 1943, Algiers, June 12, 1943, on board ship, July 5, 1943 and Gela, Sicily, July 13, 1943 etc. etc.

This is much more detail than just having the Forte/Helbock information "Algeria November 8, 1942 to July 5, 1943." If you want to pinpoint the exact location of an APO for historical interest and specificity this is the level of detail you need. If not, well then not.

Various other information is given as well, for instance, from July 1, 1942 to Mar 15, 1943, APO 1 did not use an APO number in its postmark ('numberless cancel period'). Thus, during this time period identification is by return address only. Units are also identified (APO 1 = 1st Division) if known; administrative information (APO assigned to European Theater of War etc.) rounds out the listings. This supplementary information is not at the same level of detail across all APOs and very occasionally we also have missing dates or periods. The information was assembled as a true labor of love by research of actual source documents in the war archives. At times, no offical records were available and that is what we have to be content with. The foreword is informative and focuses on the organization of the army postal service. Some of the information I have never found anywhere else. I use this book a lot more than Forte/Helbock -- it really depends how deep you want to dig.

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14 Apr 2011
11:38:02pm
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

If you collect postmarks none of the two prior books are particularly useful. It is interesting to know the location of a certain APO on a certain date, I like this information and don't want to miss it, but what I really need is not a listing of locations, but a listing of the various postmarks that have been used by a certain APO. Here, the literature gets very sparse ...

Richard Helbock authored Combat Infantry Mail: A Catalog of Postmarks Used by World War II U.S. Infantry Divisions (La Posta, 1991). It is out of print, but can be found with not too much difficulty.

There were 72 Infantry Divisions during WWII each with its own APO. The total number of regular APOs is probably around 1,000, so the listings in this work cover far from all APO postmarks. For each Division/APO the various hand and machine cancels used by the APO are pictured and earliest and latest dates of use are recorded. For APO 1, eight different 4-bar cancels and one machine cancel are recorded over the time period from 1942 to 1947. Most APOs used considerably fewer different cancels. For each APO you also get detailed location information and a brief unit history including major engagements.

The level of detail across the various APOs varies greatly. The EKU/LKU information is quite incomplete. Usually, once a first listing appears, collectors begin checking their collections and report additional specimens. Unfortunately, there never was another edition of this book so the listings are not as complete as one might wish. The introduction is relatively short and mostly non-philatelic, for instance, you will learn about the organization of a typical infantry division.

I really had not looked at this book for quite a while and only picked it off the shelf for purposes of this discussion. I actually like and may consult it more often in the future. The greatest weakness is the identification of cancels just based on pictures. Occasionally, the difference between the types of cancels is not readily apparent and a textual description of the difference would be helpful. Nevertheless, if you want to collect the postmarks of the Infantry Divisions -- here you go. I often found that some specialty areas are heavily collected, and others are not, just simply because a catalog exists in one case, and not in the other. The typical size of an infantry division was 14,000 -- a small town -- that plus the free franking privilege plus the fact that all military mail was usually preserved by family members assures that ample postal history of these units still exists today. There is no vlaue guide for the postmarks and Helbock prices a typical clean, small sized cover with a clear postmark and return address for a typical infantry division at $1-$3. That was in 1991 and I rarely have paid more than that today. Two more references to go, but enough for tonight ...

Arno


(Message edited by rhinelander on April 15, 2011)

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Rhinelander
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15 Apr 2011
07:37:36pm
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

@ Amraambob

I ordered a copy of the Postal History/Cancellation Study of the US Pacific Islands -- thanks for the recommendation.

Alright, continuing with the original question "Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels?" -- The Helbock (1991) book on the infantry division cancels does not cover a whole lot of the existing universe of APO postmarks, so what else is out there ...

Going back in time, John H. Engel's "APO Cover Catalogue" (1947) provides a useful listing of the various postmarks from all regular APOs, BPOs and PRSs. It is going to be hard to find today, I suppose.

It is a small little booklet, which pictures the various styles of APO hand and machine cancels used during WWII. The different styles of APO hand cancels, by the way, differ primarily by the wording and arrangement of inscriptions in the cancel. For each APO a listing is provided which styles of cancels are known from this particular APO. No periods of use are given for each postmark; only the last location for each APO is mentioned and units are not identified. However, values for each cancel are given (ranging from $0.10 to $1.00 plus some "--,--" items).

Not having the specific cancels pictured for each APO, but only a style listing ("H17", "M03" etc.) requires a lot of back and forth between the pictured styles in the front and the listing in the back, but one has to work with what is available. With today's technology the booklet would have been designed differently, I am sure. The introduction is very short and not too informative. Perhaps in 1947 most collectors were more familiar with APO mail and not much information was deemed necessary.

I am not aware of an update to this booklet. Engel lists 5 varieties of hand cancels and 2 varieties of machine cancels for APO 1. Recall that Helbock had 8 hand cancels and 1 machine cancel. While it is possible that additional varieties may have surfaced, I attribute the difference primarily to each author's judgment in what constitutes a new variety. If a postmark is missing the date, is that a new variety or simply a careless clerk error not worthy of being independently counted as a different cancel? Overall, I trust Engel a little better, assuming that better and more timely information was available in 1947. At the time the entire postmark history of an APO, including earliest and latest usages of cancels, could have been established readily by examining the consecutive letters in a correspondence.

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Walden
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15 Apr 2011
09:10:48pm
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Arno,

Thank you for the very informative and thorough report; I have interlibrary loaned several of the books you mentioned. You should consider writing an article on this for the website: an introduction to the philatelic literature of WWII

Best,
Walden

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Rhinelander
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16 Apr 2011
01:05:27am
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

You are welcome, Walden. I am not into the articles. I like the more interactive nature of the discussion forum better. There is a search function for the discussion forum. So I hope this information will not be lost, once a week or two passes by, but folks will always be able to locate this thread if ever needed.

One, final, resource on APO postmarks that has to be mentioned is Bart Billings' "U.S. Postal Machines of the Army Post Offices World War II" (2006). Army Postal units serving more than 7,500 personnell were entitiled to a cancellation machine. Not all APOs fitting this requirement actually did receive a machine (for instance, not all APOs of infantry divisions used a cancellation machine), but maybe around 400-500 APOs used a cancellation machine for at least some period.

This 2-volume reference provides a quite complete listing of all machine cancels used by APOs (and other APUs) during the war. All cancels are pictured. The listings include location information, based on Russ Carter (discussed above), and a value guide (mostly bogus). Caveat: the location information is incomplete, because only periods during which a cancellation machine was used are listed. Units are not identified.

The foreword focuses on the various makes and models of cancellation machines in use. It is very instructional, providing type charts etc., which may also be helpful in identifying contemporaneous non-military related machine cancels. Notable is the treatment of the most common (?) APU, the 7th Base Post Office (Brisbane to Port Morsesby to Biak to Manila). This was a very large installation handling enormous amounts of mail, and thus using multiple different cancellation machines simultaneously.

An addendum to this work with new discoveries has been published in the public domain (book is b/w, not color):

http://www.machinecancel.org/forum/2007_04/new_apo_article.pdf

I like the machine cancels, so I use this reference book quite a bit. It is out of print and will probably be hard to find (and probably also expensive if you do find it).

If there is a book on APO postmarks out there, of which I am not aware, I would be interested to learn about it. As it appears, a comprehensive catalog does not exist. Location information, unit identification information, and postmark information must be combined from various sources. At times, the "best" information may be in specialized works dealing with the postal history of just one geographic area, i.e., the US Pacific Islands, the Panama Canal Zone, or the APOs in Germany only etc.

"Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?"

Well, I have a few more things on the shelf, but would not recommend (or dated). I know a few more books, but will not recommmend what I have not seen. So, I am done with respect to the APOs.

I know nothing about the FPOs and don't have an interest in Navy items (except a small collection of machine cancels used on military vessels, of which there are few). So someone else needs to fill in information on those. With respect to censorship, I only have some interest in civil, but not military censorship. There is reference literature on both types of censorship. I think I discussed the leading (?) reference on U.S. civil censorship (by Broderick and Mayo) in an earlier thread and I believe, if I recall correctly, I even posted a cross-listing of censorship numbers and associated locations, but -- just to contradict of what I said earlier -- I am unable to locate these contributions through our search function at this time. Well, maybe I am wrong and the information provided here is not "for ever."

Best,

Arno

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Walden
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19 Apr 2011
07:58:40pm
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Arno,

I have another question for you. You mentioned that the pricing in Forte and Helbock is bogus: is this simply because the prices are too high (or low), or are the differences in values inaccurate in your opinion?

Best,
Frank
(Walden)

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Rhinelander
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21 Apr 2011
12:28:02am
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Frank,

Yes. I probably need to elaborate a little bit on the 'bogus' claim. First off, all of this is OPINION and so there will be diversity of opinions. Second, while I do collect WWII APOs, I really collect the various postmarks (and Forte and Helbock do not catalog those). There are many, many different ways to collect WWII military postal history. The foreword to Forte and Helbock highlights some of the various ways. I am reposting the link again here; I am referring to the "Types of APO Cover Collections" section:

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/

Depending on what you specifically collect, any given cover will be of more or less value to you. I fully agree with Forte's and Helbock's assessment in their "Rarity and APO Covers" section. The price someone is willing to pay is entirely subjective.

I believe the main problem is that Forte differentiates prices for a certain APO by country of location. So you have seven prices for APO 1 depending on whether the unit, the 1st Infantry division, was stationed in Algeria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Sicily or Tunisia. I did not observe that this differentiation finds support in the market -- but my knowledge is not perfect, I am not a member of the Military Postal History Society etc. I see it basically as an attempt at differential pricing (selling the same product to different customers at different prices). Differential pricing rarely works.

Rather than holding out for the fellow with the specialist interest who may be willing to pay $50 for a $5 cover, because it was cancelled May 1943, not sooner, not later, many sellers will rather go for "CASH NOW" and sell to a general collector for $5, because the specialist with the fat wallet may never materialize. Of course, then, the specialist, should she materialize, will be able to pick up the cover for which she was willing to pay $50 for $5 -- but that's how it goes. If you go back to basic economics, there is always folks way out on the demand curve, willing to pay top dollars, but that is not where the equilibrium price is. So giving seven prices because some collectors will have a higher “utility” for a given cover from the same APO than others, cannot work in theory, and from all I can see it does not work in practice. So, I would take the lowest priced location as indicative of the value for the APO.

As far as the internal consistency is concerned, i.e., is a $20 APO cover more in demand than a $10 cover, I have no basis to doubt that. As an indication of relative scarcity the Forte prices are certainly helpful. Billings, in his APO machine cancel book, BTW, also differentiates prices for the same postmark by location of the APO –equally futile. The vast majority of APO covers sells for $1-$5. Forte also has a listed of factors that add value to an APO cover and I agree with that list.

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Walden
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21 Apr 2011
09:36:34pm
re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Thanks Arno; I appreciate the insights.

Best,
Frank

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Walden

12 Apr 2011
10:22:42pm

I was wondering if a catalogue or catalogues exist for APO/FPO cancels. I notice that some stamp collectors are able to identify where a particular cover was canceled based on its APO number. This is an area of collecting that I know next to nothing about. Any references for guidebooks, catalogues, or other information would be greatly appreciated.

Along the same lines, I often find covers from the WWII era with censor cancels--what reference works should I consult to identify these?

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President - West Essex Philatelic Society www.wepsonline.org
13 Apr 2011
10:10:21am

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

I found a pretty good site. Not sure what all the columns represent though...

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/apo_number.htm

Bob

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Amraambob

14 Apr 2011
12:44:17am

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

There is one great reference it is "A Postal History/Cancellation Study of the US Pacific Islands" By Robert T Murphy. It was printed by the APS in 1983 and is a great reference. It might still be available from the APS or some of the major literature dealers, James Lee, Phil Banser, or even Subway may have copies for sale.

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amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
14 Apr 2011
04:59:46am

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re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

there are at least 2 others. One by Helbock lists all known APOs and BPOs from the second world war; another lists them through about 2000. I'll get the titles for you in another post. They list the unit, when known, dates of operation, etc. The former also lists relative value.

David

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amsd

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14 Apr 2011
02:03:41pm

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re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

here's one of the catalogues I referenced earlier:

A Price Guide to US APO cancels of the Second World War, by Jim Forte and Richard Helbock. it's available from LaPosta publications, and is essential as a starting point for collectors of WWII army mail (sorry, no USCG, Navy, or Marines; and the AF didn't exist as a separate entity until either 47 or 49).

There's still lots of research to be done; for instance this text has dates but no units for many APOs and BPOs.

David

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Rhinelander

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14 Apr 2011
09:02:25pm

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Hi folks,

I am collecting some WWII items and can name a few resources. I will stick to those that I own and thus can actually speak to.

David already mentioned Forte's and Helbock's "Price Guide to US APO cancels of the Second World War." It is inexpensive and I recommend it. Personally, I do not use it much. First, Jim Forte, one of the authors, has made the book (almost all of it) available online on his postal history website. Here is the link:

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/

This gets you pretty much all of the frontmatter of the book, which gives a good introduction. At the bottom of the page is a link that will then take you to the actual listings, organized by APO number or location, which is the link already posted by Bob (above):

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/apo_number.htm

The introduction explains the meaning of the columns (rarity and demand scales) in that listing.

There are two major differences between the printed book and the free online listing: the book has the time periods for each location and gives the name of the unit associated with that APO (if known). For instance, for APO 1 the free listing lists

0001 Algeria 2 1 MV
0001 Belgium 2 3 $5.00
0001 England 2 1 MV
0001 France 2 2 MV
0001 Germany 2 4 $7.50
0001 Sicily 2 3 $5.00
0001 Tunisia 2 1 MV

In the print version it will tell you that APO 1 belonged to the 1st Infantry Division and that it was in England/Scotland from Aug 7, 1942 to Oct 22, 1942, then in Algeria from Nov. 8, 1942 to July 5, 1943 etc. In the free listing, you do not have the actual dates and since the locations are alphabetized, they are also not even in the right order.

In my opinion, the entire pricing in the book is bogus, but this is a separate topic. I post this one and then turn to the next reference.

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14 Apr 2011
10:12:32pm

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

I notice, my above post has crossed with Walden's response to the earlier postings, but let's carry on ..

A signifcant improvement over Forte/Helbock is Russ Carter, Numbered Army & Air Force Post Office Locations, Volume 1 BPOs, PRSs, & Regular APOs 1941-1964. Most recent, I believe, is the 7th edition (2001). It is also not expensive. Googling , I am sure, will turn up a vendor.

I know a similar reference exists from other authors, but I own this one, so I will stick to discussing it. This 300 page large format reference is 95% pure numbers. You will find for each APO the specific locations for the time period covered. In 1964, APOs were replaced with ZIP codes (APO 10 became APO '96210'), thus providing a natural cut-off point for the book.

Continuing our example for the 1st Division, APO 1, we learn that it departed Glasgow, Scotland on Oct 22, 1942 to be re-established in Arzew, Algeria, November 8, 1942, moving to Oran, November 19, 1942, then Tebessa, in April 1943, Oran, again, May 14, 1943, Algiers, June 12, 1943, on board ship, July 5, 1943 and Gela, Sicily, July 13, 1943 etc. etc.

This is much more detail than just having the Forte/Helbock information "Algeria November 8, 1942 to July 5, 1943." If you want to pinpoint the exact location of an APO for historical interest and specificity this is the level of detail you need. If not, well then not.

Various other information is given as well, for instance, from July 1, 1942 to Mar 15, 1943, APO 1 did not use an APO number in its postmark ('numberless cancel period'). Thus, during this time period identification is by return address only. Units are also identified (APO 1 = 1st Division) if known; administrative information (APO assigned to European Theater of War etc.) rounds out the listings. This supplementary information is not at the same level of detail across all APOs and very occasionally we also have missing dates or periods. The information was assembled as a true labor of love by research of actual source documents in the war archives. At times, no offical records were available and that is what we have to be content with. The foreword is informative and focuses on the organization of the army postal service. Some of the information I have never found anywhere else. I use this book a lot more than Forte/Helbock -- it really depends how deep you want to dig.

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Rhinelander

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14 Apr 2011
11:38:02pm

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

If you collect postmarks none of the two prior books are particularly useful. It is interesting to know the location of a certain APO on a certain date, I like this information and don't want to miss it, but what I really need is not a listing of locations, but a listing of the various postmarks that have been used by a certain APO. Here, the literature gets very sparse ...

Richard Helbock authored Combat Infantry Mail: A Catalog of Postmarks Used by World War II U.S. Infantry Divisions (La Posta, 1991). It is out of print, but can be found with not too much difficulty.

There were 72 Infantry Divisions during WWII each with its own APO. The total number of regular APOs is probably around 1,000, so the listings in this work cover far from all APO postmarks. For each Division/APO the various hand and machine cancels used by the APO are pictured and earliest and latest dates of use are recorded. For APO 1, eight different 4-bar cancels and one machine cancel are recorded over the time period from 1942 to 1947. Most APOs used considerably fewer different cancels. For each APO you also get detailed location information and a brief unit history including major engagements.

The level of detail across the various APOs varies greatly. The EKU/LKU information is quite incomplete. Usually, once a first listing appears, collectors begin checking their collections and report additional specimens. Unfortunately, there never was another edition of this book so the listings are not as complete as one might wish. The introduction is relatively short and mostly non-philatelic, for instance, you will learn about the organization of a typical infantry division.

I really had not looked at this book for quite a while and only picked it off the shelf for purposes of this discussion. I actually like and may consult it more often in the future. The greatest weakness is the identification of cancels just based on pictures. Occasionally, the difference between the types of cancels is not readily apparent and a textual description of the difference would be helpful. Nevertheless, if you want to collect the postmarks of the Infantry Divisions -- here you go. I often found that some specialty areas are heavily collected, and others are not, just simply because a catalog exists in one case, and not in the other. The typical size of an infantry division was 14,000 -- a small town -- that plus the free franking privilege plus the fact that all military mail was usually preserved by family members assures that ample postal history of these units still exists today. There is no vlaue guide for the postmarks and Helbock prices a typical clean, small sized cover with a clear postmark and return address for a typical infantry division at $1-$3. That was in 1991 and I rarely have paid more than that today. Two more references to go, but enough for tonight ...

Arno


(Message edited by rhinelander on April 15, 2011)

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Rhinelander

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15 Apr 2011
07:37:36pm

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

@ Amraambob

I ordered a copy of the Postal History/Cancellation Study of the US Pacific Islands -- thanks for the recommendation.

Alright, continuing with the original question "Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels?" -- The Helbock (1991) book on the infantry division cancels does not cover a whole lot of the existing universe of APO postmarks, so what else is out there ...

Going back in time, John H. Engel's "APO Cover Catalogue" (1947) provides a useful listing of the various postmarks from all regular APOs, BPOs and PRSs. It is going to be hard to find today, I suppose.

It is a small little booklet, which pictures the various styles of APO hand and machine cancels used during WWII. The different styles of APO hand cancels, by the way, differ primarily by the wording and arrangement of inscriptions in the cancel. For each APO a listing is provided which styles of cancels are known from this particular APO. No periods of use are given for each postmark; only the last location for each APO is mentioned and units are not identified. However, values for each cancel are given (ranging from $0.10 to $1.00 plus some "--,--" items).

Not having the specific cancels pictured for each APO, but only a style listing ("H17", "M03" etc.) requires a lot of back and forth between the pictured styles in the front and the listing in the back, but one has to work with what is available. With today's technology the booklet would have been designed differently, I am sure. The introduction is very short and not too informative. Perhaps in 1947 most collectors were more familiar with APO mail and not much information was deemed necessary.

I am not aware of an update to this booklet. Engel lists 5 varieties of hand cancels and 2 varieties of machine cancels for APO 1. Recall that Helbock had 8 hand cancels and 1 machine cancel. While it is possible that additional varieties may have surfaced, I attribute the difference primarily to each author's judgment in what constitutes a new variety. If a postmark is missing the date, is that a new variety or simply a careless clerk error not worthy of being independently counted as a different cancel? Overall, I trust Engel a little better, assuming that better and more timely information was available in 1947. At the time the entire postmark history of an APO, including earliest and latest usages of cancels, could have been established readily by examining the consecutive letters in a correspondence.

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Walden

15 Apr 2011
09:10:48pm

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Arno,

Thank you for the very informative and thorough report; I have interlibrary loaned several of the books you mentioned. You should consider writing an article on this for the website: an introduction to the philatelic literature of WWII

Best,
Walden

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Rhinelander

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16 Apr 2011
01:05:27am

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

You are welcome, Walden. I am not into the articles. I like the more interactive nature of the discussion forum better. There is a search function for the discussion forum. So I hope this information will not be lost, once a week or two passes by, but folks will always be able to locate this thread if ever needed.

One, final, resource on APO postmarks that has to be mentioned is Bart Billings' "U.S. Postal Machines of the Army Post Offices World War II" (2006). Army Postal units serving more than 7,500 personnell were entitiled to a cancellation machine. Not all APOs fitting this requirement actually did receive a machine (for instance, not all APOs of infantry divisions used a cancellation machine), but maybe around 400-500 APOs used a cancellation machine for at least some period.

This 2-volume reference provides a quite complete listing of all machine cancels used by APOs (and other APUs) during the war. All cancels are pictured. The listings include location information, based on Russ Carter (discussed above), and a value guide (mostly bogus). Caveat: the location information is incomplete, because only periods during which a cancellation machine was used are listed. Units are not identified.

The foreword focuses on the various makes and models of cancellation machines in use. It is very instructional, providing type charts etc., which may also be helpful in identifying contemporaneous non-military related machine cancels. Notable is the treatment of the most common (?) APU, the 7th Base Post Office (Brisbane to Port Morsesby to Biak to Manila). This was a very large installation handling enormous amounts of mail, and thus using multiple different cancellation machines simultaneously.

An addendum to this work with new discoveries has been published in the public domain (book is b/w, not color):

http://www.machinecancel.org/forum/2007_04/new_apo_article.pdf

I like the machine cancels, so I use this reference book quite a bit. It is out of print and will probably be hard to find (and probably also expensive if you do find it).

If there is a book on APO postmarks out there, of which I am not aware, I would be interested to learn about it. As it appears, a comprehensive catalog does not exist. Location information, unit identification information, and postmark information must be combined from various sources. At times, the "best" information may be in specialized works dealing with the postal history of just one geographic area, i.e., the US Pacific Islands, the Panama Canal Zone, or the APOs in Germany only etc.

"Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?"

Well, I have a few more things on the shelf, but would not recommend (or dated). I know a few more books, but will not recommmend what I have not seen. So, I am done with respect to the APOs.

I know nothing about the FPOs and don't have an interest in Navy items (except a small collection of machine cancels used on military vessels, of which there are few). So someone else needs to fill in information on those. With respect to censorship, I only have some interest in civil, but not military censorship. There is reference literature on both types of censorship. I think I discussed the leading (?) reference on U.S. civil censorship (by Broderick and Mayo) in an earlier thread and I believe, if I recall correctly, I even posted a cross-listing of censorship numbers and associated locations, but -- just to contradict of what I said earlier -- I am unable to locate these contributions through our search function at this time. Well, maybe I am wrong and the information provided here is not "for ever."

Best,

Arno

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Walden

19 Apr 2011
07:58:40pm

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Arno,

I have another question for you. You mentioned that the pricing in Forte and Helbock is bogus: is this simply because the prices are too high (or low), or are the differences in values inaccurate in your opinion?

Best,
Frank
(Walden)

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Rhinelander

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21 Apr 2011
12:28:02am

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Frank,

Yes. I probably need to elaborate a little bit on the 'bogus' claim. First off, all of this is OPINION and so there will be diversity of opinions. Second, while I do collect WWII APOs, I really collect the various postmarks (and Forte and Helbock do not catalog those). There are many, many different ways to collect WWII military postal history. The foreword to Forte and Helbock highlights some of the various ways. I am reposting the link again here; I am referring to the "Types of APO Cover Collections" section:

http://www.postalhistory.com/Military/APO/

Depending on what you specifically collect, any given cover will be of more or less value to you. I fully agree with Forte's and Helbock's assessment in their "Rarity and APO Covers" section. The price someone is willing to pay is entirely subjective.

I believe the main problem is that Forte differentiates prices for a certain APO by country of location. So you have seven prices for APO 1 depending on whether the unit, the 1st Infantry division, was stationed in Algeria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Sicily or Tunisia. I did not observe that this differentiation finds support in the market -- but my knowledge is not perfect, I am not a member of the Military Postal History Society etc. I see it basically as an attempt at differential pricing (selling the same product to different customers at different prices). Differential pricing rarely works.

Rather than holding out for the fellow with the specialist interest who may be willing to pay $50 for a $5 cover, because it was cancelled May 1943, not sooner, not later, many sellers will rather go for "CASH NOW" and sell to a general collector for $5, because the specialist with the fat wallet may never materialize. Of course, then, the specialist, should she materialize, will be able to pick up the cover for which she was willing to pay $50 for $5 -- but that's how it goes. If you go back to basic economics, there is always folks way out on the demand curve, willing to pay top dollars, but that is not where the equilibrium price is. So giving seven prices because some collectors will have a higher “utility” for a given cover from the same APO than others, cannot work in theory, and from all I can see it does not work in practice. So, I would take the lowest priced location as indicative of the value for the APO.

As far as the internal consistency is concerned, i.e., is a $20 APO cover more in demand than a $10 cover, I have no basis to doubt that. As an indication of relative scarcity the Forte prices are certainly helpful. Billings, in his APO machine cancel book, BTW, also differentiates prices for the same postmark by location of the APO –equally futile. The vast majority of APO covers sells for $1-$5. Forte also has a listed of factors that add value to an APO cover and I agree with that list.

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Walden

21 Apr 2011
09:36:34pm

re: Is there a catalogue for American APO/FPO cancels? or WWII censor cancels?

Thanks Arno; I appreciate the insights.

Best,
Frank

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