Paterson, NJ (Or Sj Error?)

One of those local mimeograph style precancels. As such, I would imagine typos were common, such as this ... do I read the State name as "SJ" rather than "NJ"?

I looked this up in my 1928 Rotnem Catalog & my Hoover 1940 Pt 1 and there is no mention of this "S.J." variety. Unkown variety or a FAKE.

Thanks for the catalog info. I'm not sure anyone would bother to fake such a common precancel, but I suppose anything is possible.

I was thinking in terms of more legitimate reasons, although pure speculation on my part:

As I recall the days of the typewriter and mimeograph if you had too much dirt built up on the typewriter letters, they would blur. Looking at the "N" in Paterson and the "N" or "S" in "N.J." ... they are both very blurred ... Could it have simply been a dirty letter on the typewriter?

Or given the days of pre-PC's and/or word processors, could it have simply been an overstrike by a poor typist?

In any event, it's an interesting precancel curiosity if nothing else.

Here's another one ... this time on a different type of precancel from New York. Is that just an over-inking problem with the "N" in "N.Y" or is there some other explanation? (It would seem that if it were over-inked all the letters would be affected.)

The Paterson precancel could be a 'Psuedo' which are unauthorized by Postmaster General but created by local Postmaster. They generally were for meeting emergency needs, like a postmaster provisional. I do not have a complete list of the so-called 'Psuedo' precancels to tell you whether or not this example is on that list.