Weird Precancel

I'm curious if this precancel is common or scarce (or somewhere in between), and what city it's from. I've never seen anything like it.

Any information is greatly appreciated!

The PC has another overprint....
Large users done this to stop stamp theft...
Initials and date....
Yours looks like SRC Mar ?
Sears Robuck Co...March

Agreed. I read it as a Kansas City, MO precancel with a SRC MAR 40 (Sears, Roebuck & Co.) inverted overprint...that also appears to be a double-strike.

You can see it a bit better if you enlarge and rotate the image as shown below:

Thank you both very much for the info!

That's very interesting! Why was the stamp overprinted by Sears? Was it done for the similar purpose of a perfin?

ILS...YES

More on the Sears Roebuck & Co. (SRC) precancel overprints is recited here:

http://www.precancels.com/sears-roe...-precancels/

Thank you wt1!

I didn't realize how many SRC precancels I have. They all look totally normal.

So would an inverted double-strike be considered a scarce variety?

A variety, yes. Scarce, no. The SRC (Sears, Roebuck & Co.) and MW (Montgomery Ward) overprints on precancels were two of the most prolific users of precancels, so they are very common. Since the stamped overprint "SRC" and date would be applied by the business, many varieties, overprints, etc., were created ... some intentional and some accidental. The challenge to a collector is to find the elusive cities and/or dates to complete a specialized collection.

O.K. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you!