Editing Pen cancel (section)

== Usage ==
In the early days of stamps, cancellation with a pen was common. Today stamps are almost always cancelled with an inked [[Postmark|handstamp]] or a machine cancel as this is quicker to apply. Pen cancels are still sometimes seen today when a postal official needs to cancel stamps missed by the automatic cancelling machine.

There are no fixed terms for the different types of pen cancels, but a cancel in the form of two crossed lines has been referred to as an ''X cancel''.<ref>[http://alphabetilately.org/X.html X is for X-cancel] alphabetilately.org</ref> Pen cancels may also take the form of notations by the canceller,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.postmarks.org/covers/akron.htm |title=Covers from the Postmark Collectors Club Website |publisher=Postmarks.org |date= |accessdate=2008-11-28}}</ref> the city in which the item was posted or the initials of the local [[postmaster]].

A pen cancel may indicate fiscal (revenue) use; however, in the early days of stamps a pen cancel was sometimes used because no handstamp was available, for instance in Nicaragua where pen cancels were used for seven years after their first stamps appeared in 1862.<ref>Sutton, R.J. & K.W. Anthony. ''The Stamp Collector's Encyclopaedia'', Stanley Paul, London, 1966, p.226.</ref>