Not too long ago, I was looking at an online auction for a classic United States stamp. The price seemed very good, but the description included the phrase "cancel lightened."
I'm trying to figure out the significance of that phrase with regard to the stamp's value. My guess is that it means a previous owner tried to alter the cancelation (perhaps to pass it off as mint?) and this circumstance essentially marks it as a damaged or compromised stamp. On the other hand, perhaps everything is more innocuous -- e.g., maybe the cancelation is lighter than usual because of the type of ink used when the stamp was canceled more than a hundred years ago. Can anyone enlighten me about how I should regard a "cancel lightened" stamp? Thanks in advance for your help.
I think you could regard the stamp to either have been altered deliberately by chemical bleaching, or by airborne alteration produced by industrial pollution.
A naturally occurring light marking may be impossible to distinguish anyway.
Whichever way, some advanced knowledge of chemistry may be needed.
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 13 Apr 2018 07:54:45am
re: "Cancel lightened" question
To add to Ningpo’s good post; some lightened stamps were not attempts to remove a cancel but rather to clean a stamp. I have seen posts where folks recommend cleaning a stamp using various chemicals; this is something I disagree with for this very reason. It is not hard to unintentionally lighten a manuscript cancel with some chemicals that do not effect a later machine cancels.
In terms of value, cleaned stamp typically bring lower values. I am glad that the listing called out the stamp's condition has being cleaned. Anytime a classic stamp has been soaked with anything other than clean, clear water it ought to be noted in a listing.
Don
