vinticulture

Compiled by a Harvard Ph.D. and a retired Air Force Colonel (both avid stamp collectors), this handbook contains lists of cancels used on wine tax stamps. A cancel is short for cancellation. The French word for it is obliteration. It is a postal marking applied to a stamp or envelope to deface it to show it has already been used. Because cancels come in all shapes and sizes, they have created a frenzied following among philatelists. Cancellations can actually increase or decrease the value of a stamp collection.