Obliterator

An obliterator, also killer, is a cancel specifically designed to positively mark a stamp to prevent re-use. They are typically paired with a CDS or other type of postmark showing the town and date. The two can be either integrated in one device or not. The idea is that a clear city and date can be struck on a cover with (say) a CDS, with less wear on tear on that device or part of a device. An obliterator is then used to cancel stamps.

The obliterator is often bars or dots in any pattern, and may or may not contain a code, letter(s) or number(s), to indicate place of origin or even just the device number. Perhaps the most interesting of these are fancy cancels, often improvised geometric patterns, images of animals or just about anything else. See: Fancy cancel.





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