U311 cut square, UPSS Die 88, one of a kind EFO, missing right ornament ray

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

35x42mm. 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 this hoard are from 1891 to 1893. Most of the 11-12,000 cut squares have the two-cent green Washington indicium that the United Postal Stationery Society (UPSS) identifies as Die 88. The Scott catalog number for this example on laid white paper is U311. There is no visible watermark. There is a mark above the indicium that may be a paper inclusion.

The stamps in the hoard 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.

The significance of this cut square has nothing to do with a circular date stamp or the nondescript obliteration.It is the odd inking pattern that stands out. The Die 88 stamped envelopes were printed in huge quantities. They display a wide variety of inking problems and die varieties, many of which fall under the EFO (errors, freaks and oddities) umbrella. Except for a few newly identified items that are not yet confirmed, these variations are found on multiple copies and have been documented; some display progressive characteristics.

One EFO category among the Die 88 cut squares is the missing individual indicium design elements, elements that are completely and cleanly omitted. There are, for example, cases where individual teeth are missing from the printed indicia. These are not extraordinary events. They are simply the result of an imprecise process along with the technological limitations of the 1890s that combined to produce a long list of postal stationary oddities.

This particular cut square appears to be very ordinary until one notices the missing ray of the ornament on the right side of the indicium. In the hoard, I found 17 copies where the left ornament center is missing. Two of those copies also have this same missing ray in the ornament on the right side. I have found no copy where the right ornament center is missing, and this is the sole copy where a missing ray in either ornament is the only missing design element. That means only three examples have surfaced in this hoard where an ornament ray is missing and it happens to be this particular ray in each case. That makes this cut square extremely rare in the hoard, one out of 11-12,000 cut squares that were mailed to Union City from all over the country in the early 1890s.

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Seller Information

Seller

keesindy (4649)

Registered Since

04/11/2016

Feedback

100%

Store

Stamps from Keesindy

• Sales

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.