Auxiliary Markings - home page
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Who Are We?
The Auxiliary Markings Club (AMC) brings together a diverse group of collectors who are interested in the movement of the mails -- especially mail that had problems. The evidence of those problems are the markings applied to envelopes and packages as the mail was processed. They may have to do with inadequate postage, problems with the delivery address, accidents that occurred with planes, trains, ships or trucks carrying the mail, or literally hundreds of other reasons.
Breaking News
- All members are invited to join us for our first AMC Annual General Meeting, which will take place on Wednesday, September 24, 2025 at 7pm ET. This will be an excellent opportunity to hear about the work of the AMC, learn about our plans for the future as well as ask questions and make suggestions. The Zoom link for the meeting is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82639477147?pwd=FqHF1Cina2uCyIRoPdPTeORLR59Av9.1 (note this Zoom link is different than the one we use for our Second Tuesday Zoom meetings).
- Our next AMC Zoom talk will be Tuesday October 14, 2025 at 7pm ET by Arnie Janson - Unusual auxiliary markings on unusual mail. Zoom meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81690034552?pwd=9AJlnPLBF9UDjHbZ8eNxqbOTth4YAQ.1 . The future AMC Zoom talk calendar is shown below. Previous AMC Zoom talks have been recorded and are available to view for free at AMC Zoom YouTube.
- The AMC will be holding our first AMCPEX: the AMC Virtual Philatelic Exhibit in October 2026. AMCPEX will be a competitive exhibit and we invite all our members to consider putting an exhibit into this exciting philatelic event. Exhibits do not need to be exclusively made up of auxiliary markings/ labels, but the exhibit should have a significant number of markings related to the topic presented. More information will be forthcoming in the next few months.
- The AMC is a proud joint-organizer of AMSIPEX-26: the 2nd International Virtual Aero- and Astrophilatelic Exhibition: on February 14-22, 2026. It will include a celebration of World Air Mail Day on February 18, 2026 with an International Webinar, Special Cover release, and other activities. Further details are available at: https://www.amsipex.com
- Three exhibits were recently awarded the Auxiliary Markings Club Award of Merit (full details at https://www.postal-markings.org/award.html):
- Ken Snelson, FRPSC for UK International Postage Due Letter Mail: Formative Years of Postal Union -The First 25 Years at ORAPEX 2025, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Francois Brisse, FRPSC for 'PAQUETBOT' Markings on Mail Received in Canada at ROYALE '25 FILEX, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Vivek S. Chopra for 'TOO LATE' Boxed Rectangular Cancels of India at WESTPEX 2025, San Francisco CA
- After 21 years, the AMC website has been completely updated. Each page has a cleaner look and a clearer purpose. Click on AMC Webpage Comments to submit comments or corrections to the webmaster.
- Concerning Auxiliary Markings
- Joint Anthology from PSSC and AMC Gregg Redner, editor - 258 pages free access to all - published February 1, 2025
- Congratulations to Douglas Quine, PhD, who has been awarded the 2nd Annual Tony Wawrukiewicz Award for his July 2024 Auxiliary Markings article, "Unintended Return to Sender Experiment". The award is made annually for the best article appearing in AM during the previous calendar year. The committee congratulated Doug for the excellence of his research and thanked him for bringing forth such an important subject in the area of modern postal history, commenting that his research was both groundbreaking and extremely consequential.
- The New AMC Officers for 2025-2027 have been elected and started their terms on January 1, 2025.
- Members may submit 1 free 40 word classified ad to the newsletter annually (new benefit in January 2024).
Auxiliary Markings Explained
Auxiliary Marking: Postal marking applied to covers by handstamp, machine cancellation, a stick-on label, manuscript markings, or by mechanical or electronic methods such as addressograph or computer, indicating that the covers were given special attention due to some special circumstance. A broad definition would include accompanying postal service letters, and ambulance covers in which damaged or misdirected mail has at times been delivered, and markings placed on covers by institutions other than the postal service, such as the military, prisons, hotels, etc. Auxiliary Markings are sometimes known as Instructional Markings or Supplementary Markings.
In the past, auxiliary markings have not been not well defined and information about them has been dispersed. As we grow, it is our intention to bring together available information in our newsletter, on this website, through an exhibit copy service, a club library, in other publications, and by facilitating communications between interested members.
Auxiliary Markings include:
- addressograph markings
- ambulance envelopes
- cancellations
- censor markings
- crash markings
- delay markings
- disinfection markings
- handstamped markings
- military markings associated with deliverability
- pointing fingers
- postage due markings
- return to sender markings
- security screening markings
- spray markings
- yellow forwarding labels
- and ..... (your favorites)
Auxiliary Markings Club (AMC) Zoom Meeting Calendar
- October 14, 2025 at 7 PM EST: Arnie Janson - Unusual auxiliary markings on unusual mail
- November 29, 2025 (new date) at 1 PM EST: (Saturday: 1:00 PM) Chris King, RDP - Danish Auxiliary Labels
- December 9, 2025 at 7 PM EST: Blair Ashford - PAID ALL: Postage Paid Markings of Newfoundland
- January 13, 2026 at 7 PM EST: Jere Dutt - The Registration labels of Togo
- February 10, 2026 at 7 PM EST: Hironobu Unesaki - Hako-ba' Post Box markings of Osaka and Kyoto, Japan
- March 14, 2026 at 3 PM EDT: (Saturday) Marian Csatlos - The UPU Return labels of Hungary
- April 14, 2026 at 7 PM EDT: Gregg Redner - A Cold War Puzzle
- May 12, 2026 at 7 PM EDT: David Bree - Missent markings of Canada
- June 10, 2026 at 7 PM EDT: David Handelman - RRR and AR markings in the US
- July 8, 2026 at 7 PM ET: Michel Houde - Purser Markings
- August 12, 2026 at 7 PM ET: Show and Tell Meeting
- September 9, 2026 at 7 PM ET: Frederick Lawrence - Czech Scout Post Markings
- October 13, 2026 at 7 PM ET: Gordon Smith - The Auxiliary Markings of Southern Africa
- November 11, 2026 at 7 PM ET: Sam Chiu, PhD - The handling of underpaid mail of Hong Kong, the first 80 years, 1881-1960
- December 9, 2026 at 7 PM ET: Gregg Redner, PhD - The prephilatelic 'paid mail' markings of Belgium
Auxiliary Markings Club (AMC) Updates
Ask A Question
Click on Ask A Question to submit a question to an Auxiliary Markings Club officer.
Last updated September 11, 2025. Copyright (c) 2004-2025 by the Auxiliary Markings Club.
Dennis Ladd has updated the free complete index for the Auxiliary Markings Club newsletter (through 2024) in Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format. Please advise him of any corrections or additions at: 