Outraged stamp collectors are accusing Post Office employees of defacing stamps by using ballpoint pens, thereby reducing their value to “worthless”.
Instead of being properly “cancelled” with official postmarks that include the date, stamps are increasingly being scribbled on by Post Office workers, as reported by avid philatelists.
Collectors and dealers have noticed a troubling rise in this practice, which is carried out on the instructions of Royal Mail to demonstrate that the stamps have been used.
The value of stamps can be significantly affected by cancellation postmarks. Pen cancellations, which are occasionally used instead of official postmarks, are not well-regarded among philatelists.
Today, early pen-cancelled stamps from America, where the practice was more common in the 19th and early 20th century, are still significantly less valuable than stamps with hand-stamped postmarks.
The apparent increase in the use of pen scrawls on used stamps is now causing a stir among collectors.
Joseph Cottriall, director and stamp valuer at auctioneers Warwick & Warwick, stated, “Postal staff used to beautifully cancel stamps with rubber stamps that left a circular postmark. This retained the value of the stamp.
“However, over the years, our stamps are being scribbled on with ballpoint pens more and more. Workers no longer take the trouble to postmark them.”
He added, “They have become lazy. I believe they are now bypassing the process of hand stamping them because postmarking takes time.
“Our customers, particularly overseas where we use more stamps on deliveries, complain vehemently. It has been a source of frustration for a long time, but it is worsening.
“Stamp collectors simply do not want them, so they end up in the trash.”
Keith Krober, owner of dealers We Buy Stamps Ldt, said stamps cancelled by pen were virtually rendered “worthless”.
A Telegraph reader from Kent, Chris Barmby, wrote in a letter to the newspaper that he often receives commemorative and everyday stamps that have been “defaced” by Post Office staff.
He stated, “I now frequently find that both the commemorative and definitive stamps I receive in the mail – which would have been suitable for my collection – are no longer going through the franking machine but are being defaced by Post Office staff.
“There was a time when stamp collectors were valued by Royal Mail, but not anymore.”
Franking machines are used to apply official marks to letters or parcels in large quantities to indicate that postage has been paid, as opposed to manually marking stamps.
A Post Office spokesperson stated that their contract with Royal Mail allows for the cancellation of stamps on large letters or the use of extra stamps on letters with a pen. They also clarified that stamps on parcels are still cancelled using a “date stamp”.
A spokesperson for Royal Mail admitted that while most stamps are still stamped with official marks as they pass through their automated systems, “there are occasions where items have been missed during automated sortation and must be cancelled manually by pen.”
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