CD Three

Cachets should be listed in chronological order based on earliest known usage. Use the postmark date or best guess. This applies to add-on cachets as well.

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Hobby Shop Fake Cancels
Early in 1941 the manager of the Hobby Shop in the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr department store in Rochester, New York solicited orders for a set of about 250 covers to be postmarked during 1941 on every ship of the Navy. In retrospect, 1941 was a poor year to begin such a project, and by June the manager ran into serious problems when security regulations adopted because of growing American involvement in World War II prohibited Navy Mail Clerks from postmarking covers for collectors. In order to fill orders, the manager began making fake postmarks which look somewhat like a Type 3 cancel. The device had slots at the bottom of the dial for rubber letters to spell out the name of the ship. A few also simulated the Type 3 cancel with wording in the killer bars.
Three factors show these postmarks to be fakes: 1) they did not begin to appear until security regulations restricted collectors from obtaining genuine cancels; 2) they are seen only on covers from the Hobby Shop; and 3) covers with these cancels were sent to buyers under separate cover, although earlier covers had arrived directly from the ship. Some of the ships represented did not even have post offices at the time. Collectors questioned the unusual cancels, but the manager of the Hobby Shop denied any wrongdoing. Sibley's was a well-known chain of good reputation; if alerted to this situation its management certainly would not have approved.
Hobby Shop cachets are distinctive; each has a border of stars with the Great Seal of the United States in the upper left corner, with a drawing of the ship in the center and statistical information below. Most were printed in two colors, and were intended to be postmarked on the anniversary of the ship's launching. An unusual set of three cachets for the Roosevelt/Churchill High Seas meeting in August, 1941 also exists with these fake cancels. The postmark for TRUXTUN repeats the error of spelling, TRUXTON, in the ship's regular postmarks of the time.
It is important to understand that many Hobby Shop covers have genuine postmarks. It was only in June, 1941 that the fake postmarks first appeared, and some Hobby Shop covers as late as September, 1941 have genuine postmarks.
There are two slightly different styles of this postmark. In the first style (Fig. 1, CD-3), the letters "U.S.S." are uniformly and fairly narrowly spaced, and the ends of the killer bars nearest the dial are square. In August a second style (Fig. 2, CD-3a) appeared, with the letters "U.S.S." further apart and the right-most "S" next to the top killer bar. The ends of the top and bottom killer bars are slanted to match the curve of the dial. The killer bars are closer to the dial in some versions of this style than others. This new style did not replace the old one, and both continued in use up until March 1942, when the Hobby Shop stopped making covers.
Apparently emboldened by his success, the Hobby Shop manager also made up a fancy cancel late in 1941 which he used into 1942, until American entry into the war made it too obvious that these markings were fakes. Shown in Figure 3 (CD-3b), it has the same distinctive lettering as the other fakes. It usually has an eagle between the box and the bars, but other devices are seen, including an open star, an open numeral "2" and the open letter "E." The design of the decorative device is given in each listing. Once again, this style of fancy cancel is only seen on Hobby Shop cachets.
"Except for special events, all Hobby Shop fake postmarks are dated on the anniversary of the ship's launch."

(USCS CATALOG of UNITED STATES NAVAL POSTMARKS, Fifth Edition, 1997)

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1. Page 1    (Fake Postmark Ship Covers Page 1)
2. Page 2    (Fake Postmark Ship Covers Page 2)
3. Page 3    (Fake Postmark British Ship Covers Page 1)




Thumbnail Link To Cachet Close-Up Image	Thumbnail Link To Full Cover Front Image	Thumbnail Link To Postmark or Back Image	Primary Date Postmark Type Killer Bar Text Ship --------- Category


 


N/A		N/A	circa 1920
			Picture Postcard

Sibley, Lindsay & Curr department store in Rochester, New York


 


			1941-08-23 Locy Type CD-3b *FAKE* USS Arctic AF-7
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			1941-06-19 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* "SAN PEDRO / CALIF" USS Arizona BB-39
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			1941-07-04 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Asheville PG-21
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			1942-02-01 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Augusta CA-31
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			1941-07-10 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Aylwin DD-355
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			1941-09-30 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Babbitt DD-128
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			1941-08-24 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* “U.S. / NAVY” USS Badger DD-126
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			1941-10-25 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* USS Bagaduce AT-21
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			1941-09-03 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Bagley DD-386
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			1941-10-25 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* Dial text: “U.S.S. / AVD / 10 / BALLARD” USS Ballard AVD-10
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			1941-09-11 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Barker DD-213
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			1941-08-22 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* USS Bay Spring YNg-19
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			1941-08-29 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* USS Belknap DD-251
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			1941-08-22 Locy Type CD-3b *FAKE* USS Bittern AM-36
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			1941-10-04 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Borie DD-215
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			1941-09-14 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* USS Case DD-370
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			1941-11-04 Locy Type Fake (CD-3b, "E") USS Chaumont AP-5
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			1941-07-03 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* ”AT / SEA” USS Chester CA-27
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			1941-09-14 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Conyngham DD-371
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			1941-11-20 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* USS Dahlgren DD-187
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			1941-07-30 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Davis DD-395
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			1941-07-28 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Dewey DD-349
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			1942-03-26 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Drayton DD-366
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			1941-07-29 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Edsall DD-219
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			1941-07-04 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Elliot DD-146
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			1941-10-03 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* USS Enterprise CV-6
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			1942-02-17 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Gamble DM-15
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			1941-08-23 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Greer DD-145
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			1941-12-01 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* USS Gridley DD-380
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			1942-02-04 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Hammann DD-412
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			1941-08-27 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Helena CL-50
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			1942-01-12 Locy Type CD-3a *FAKE* USS Henley DD-391
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			1941-08-26 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Honolulu CL-48
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			1941-07-29 Locy Type CD-3 *FAKE* USS Humphreys DD-236
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