Last updated January 6, 2019 Pacific Mail Steamship Co. Straight Line Handstamp Cancels

Pacific Mail straight line handstamps are always in demand. They are the names of the steamships the company used. No one knows what types of documents these were used on, as there are no known examples of these still on document. The speculation is that these were on passage tickets. Since those all were sent overseas, that is why none have been found. Until one is found on document, we won't know for certain.

A simplistic valuation model would go as follows:

1. As a baseline, each strike of the cancel is roughly $40-50 in market value regardless of the stamp's catalog value, e.g., single strike examples of the more common ships can be found in the $50 range, whereas one with six strikes is likely to be in the $250-300 range.
2. 1st issue stamps are more common than 2nd and 3rd issue, with the exception of 1st issue imperfs ($5 denominations known with the ship AMERICA cancel).
3. The more full and well-struck the cancel(s), the higher the value.
4. The more striking the contrast between cancel and stamp, the more marketable and sought after.
5. Certain ships are more scarce than others. The most common are CHINA and JAPAN, then likely ALASKA, ARIZONA, and GREAT REPUBLIC. I still have yet to find examples of COLORADO, CONSTITUTION, COSTA RICA, GOLDEN CITY, and NEW YORK.

Below are the examples I currently have in my collection.

If you have any examples that I don't have for sale or trade, please send high-resolution images and asking price to info@revenue-collector.com.

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Alaska

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America

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Arizona

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China

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Colorado

None in my collection. If you have one for sale or trade, please email me.

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Constitution

None in my collection. If you have one for sale or trade, please email me.

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Costa Rica

None in my collection. If you have one for sale or trade, please email me.

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Golden City

None in my collection. If you have one for sale or trade, please email me.

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Great Republic

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Henry Chauncey

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Japan

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Montana

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New York

None in my collection. If you have one for sale or trade, please email me.

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Ocean Queen

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Oregonian

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Rising Star

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Sacramento

None in my collection. If you have one for sale or trade, please email me.

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Unattributed

From the font we can tell that it is a Pacific Mail Steamship Co. cancel, but no way to know for certain which one... based upon the width of the serifs at the base of A, I would speculate ALASKA (the serifs at the base of the A in ARIZONA are not as wide, at least based upon the examples in my collection).

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Mixed Ships

Mixed-ship items are exceptionally rare. There are only a handful known.