U277 cut square UPSS Die 81, Syracuse, NY, Wesson "time on bottom" and ellipse

Item Specifics

Country

United States

Catalog Number

U277

Stamp Type

Postal Stationery

Condition

Used

Stamp Format

Single

Topic

People - Politicians

Year of Issue

1884

Item Description

38x35mm (top and right edges). This cut square is Scott U277 brown indicium on white paper. The United Postal Stationery Society (UPSS) identifies these 2c Washington envelopes with this particular indicium as Die 81. This copy has a partial UPSS watermark 7. The cancel design was patented by Walter D. Wesson in the 1880s and is known as the “time on bottom” cancel. The elliptical killer may have had either vertical or horizontal bars. Several cities used the device and a few were still using it in the early years of the 20th century. This copy was postmarked at Syracuse, New York in 1887.

This item has never been mounted or placed in a collection. It was among many thousands of cut squares and stamps, most of which had been collected from businesses in the early 1890s at Union City, Indiana. Most of the readable postmarks are from 1891 to 1893, with the majority from 1892. Most of these were on stamps and postal stationery (cut squares) issued in the late 1880s and early 1890s, but this hoard also included a few hundred stamps and cut squares that had been issued earlier in the 1880s. A few of these earlier issues had identifiable postmarks, most of which were from the 1880s.

The stamps in the hoard had been soaked from the envelopes. Nearly everything was sorted and tied tightly into bundles (each containing 100 stamps or cut squares) using string and sewing thread. I inherited and began unpacking the bundles in 2000. With few exceptions, the tightly bound stamps and cut squares had been very well protected from damage for over a century.

Although mail was coming to Union City from all over the country, much of it seemed to be coming from small cities and towns in Indiana and Ohio and to a lesser degree from smaller communities in other nearby states. In other words, most of the fancy and geometric cancels were from Indiana, Ohio and the surrounding states. Only eight other items in the hoard have been identified from Syracuse, New York. All of these are on Scott U311 UPSS Die 88 cut squares and all have the year, “92,” at the bottom of the CDS. All use a duplexed ellipse with three bars at the top and bottom and either a numeral “1” or “3” in the center.

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Seller Information

Seller

keesindy (4648)

Registered Since

04/11/2016

Feedback

100%

Store

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Item Location

Indiana, United States

Ships To

United States

Shipping Instructions

About 3½ years ago, I stopped selling and shipping outside the US due to new postal rules and rapidly rising costs. The USPS is raising postal rates again in January 2019. Today, December 25, 2018, due to the continuing rise in the cost of postage and associated fees, I am reluctantly raising my general shipping fee for the first time in many years. My sales here at HipStamp involve no additional charge for the purchase of multiple stamps. Shipping is via USPS unless otherwise specified. Be sure to contact me before making your purchases if you have questions.

Returns Accepted

Yes

Returns Policy

All items may be returned unless otherwise stated in the listing. Of course, I cannot be responsible if uninsured items are damaged during shipping. If you are dissatisfied with a purchase, contact me within 7 days of your receipt of the item to make arrangements for returning it. If I have made an error in my listing or the item is not as described, you will receive a full reimbursement plus the pre-agreed-upon cost to return the item.