U311 1890, part. Prairie City, IA and Winchester, IN CDSs, double impression EFO

Item Specifics

Country

United States

Catalog Number

U311

Stamp Type

Postal Stationery

Condition

Used

Stamp Format

Error

Topic

People - Politicians

Year of Issue

1890

Item Description

40x47mm. This cut square is Scott U311 with green indicium on white paper. The United Postal Stationery Society (UPSS) identifies this indicium as Die 88. This copy contains most of a UPSS watermark 8. The obliteration is an indistinct hand carved design. There is some yellowish staining in the upper right-hand area of the cut square that extends down into a portion of the indicium. There is a paper surface scrape and possible paper adhesion in that area as well. There is also a short vertical crease along the right edge above the Winchester circular date stamp (CDS).

This cut square was among thousands of stamps and cut squares collected from businesses at Union City, Indiana, in the early 1890s. Most of the readable postmarks in the hoard are from the period 1891 to 1893. The stamps had been soaked from the envelopes around the time of their collection. The stamps and cut squares were then sorted and tied tightly with string and sewing thread into bundles of 100 each. That process protected most of the items from damage and aging for over a century. I inherited and began unpacking the bundles in 2000. None of these sale items from the hoard has ever been in a collection.

Although three railroads were serving Union City and delivering mail from all over the country, much of that mail 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 probably originated within 150 to 200 miles of Union City. However, this partial CDS is one of three in the Union City hoard from Prairie City, Iowa. (The other two show more complete CDSs.) The town is east of Des Moines in Jasper County, about 450 miles from Union City. Jasper County is in an agricultural area and the 1890 Prairie City population was 684. We don’t know the source of this mail or the name of the business receiving it in Union City. Multiple railroad routes from Prairie City were available for the mail service. However, since this mail passed through Winchester (located about 9 miles west of Union City), it must also have passed through Muncie, located another 21 miles to the west. From Muncie, the mail from Prairie City must have been on the C. C. C. & St. L. (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis) Railroad that passed through Winchester and Union City.

The Die 88 stamped envelope indicia were printed in huge quantities. They display a wide variety of inking problems (including setoffs) and die varieties that fall under the EFO (errors, freaks and oddities) umbrella. Except for a few newly identified items that are yet to be confirmed, these characteristics are repeating and documented; some display progressive characteristics. The primary EFO characteristic of this cut square is the partial double impression of the indicium. The letters of UNITED and STATES and the “PO” of POSTAGE show the double impression as do the inner teeth from the left side to the top of the indicium. Another characteristic of this copy include the unusually tall points on the crown (top) of the shield at the bottom of the indicium. There is also a well-documented small notch below the “W” of TWO in the outer frame line.

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Seller Information

Seller

keesindy (4649)

Registered Since

04/11/2016

Feedback

100%

Store

Stamps from Keesindy

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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.