?Solid Stars? and ?Outline Stars?
Postage stamps mounted on collector?s album page
Brenton Thurston U.S. Fancy Cancellation Collection

This specialized stamp collection focuses on early cancelled postage stamps. Postmasters cancel stamps, or apply markings over them, at the time of their original use to designate them as void for future postage. Prior to the 1890s, some postmasters used their own hand stamps for this task, often carving a simple design out of cork or wood. By the later years of the nineteenth century, cancels were standardized.