Precancel "Cincinnat" Error Or Poor Printing?

I'd be interested in an evaluation of this precancel which seems to be missing the final "I" in "CINCINNATI":



Here's a hi-res close up of the affected area:



I think I see a printing smear where the final "I" should be. Is this considered an oddity or error?

Also, while on the subject of Ohio precancels, I am coming upon a number of them with the state shown as "OHIO." (with a period after the state name) and seemingly similar style precancels without the period. (The item shown above is one example with the period.) In that the state is not abbreviated, is this just an old style printing or is there a specific precancel variety associated with whether or not a period follows the state name?

Wow, this one was confusing for me. Easy in the old Hoover catalogue, much more difficult to call with the PSS catalogue without the stamp on hand to measure.

The Hoover catalogue gives this information which makes it easy to call. "Type 7 (Universal Style 8): No period. Compare with Type 13." "Type 13: Similar to Type 7, but lines heavier. Period after "OHIO". ... A number of but not all of the stamps in the right hand vertical row read "CINCINNAT". Information wanted as to which are so mutilated." So, it's clearly Hoover Type 13.

But in the PSS catalogue, there's no mention of the period after Ohio, nor is there any mention of the missing "I" at the end of "Cincinnati". The PSS Bureau catalogue does not show a period after "OHIO", so that would rule out Style 61, the only Bureau precancel style on that 15 cent stamp. In any case, it looks like it's a perf 11 x 11 stamp, which wasn't used for Bureau precancels. So, it's off to the Town & Type catalogue.

There are two possible styles listed for Cincinnati in the Town & Type catalogue. Style 205 can be ruled out, it has letters that are 3 mm tall and your stamp doesn't look like the letters are tall enough for that. The two reasonable choices are Style 209 and Style 236. Both have 2 mm tall letters. Style 209 has 0.8 mm thick lines and 12.5 mm between lines (that's the space in between, measured from the bottom of one line to the top of the other). Style 236 has thicker 1 mm lines and is 10-12 mm between lines. Style 209 does not show a comma after the city name whereas Style 236 does, but that's something that would probably be missing on your stamp, as the "I" and the ends of the lines are also missing. In any case, you can't use the punctuation to determine styles on the electrotypes - the catalogue has a note that reads "Except where specified otherwise, the state may be spelled out or abbreviated, and punctuation is optional."

Knowing it's a perf 11 for the top side of your stamp, I can scale that and measure 2 mm high letters and a 1 mm high line thickness on your stamp, which would make it a Style 236. Unfortunately, that measurement method also gives me 12.5 mm between lines, which would be Style 209 .... But given the note in Hoover that the lines are thicker for the design with the period, I'd call it Style 236.

Ryan

The Cincinnati is not an error but a worn/broken device. This type used a device with 100 subjects, a few others, being on the right side broke off or worn off.
The lines above & below the missing letter are missing too.

Thanks for all of the info. Even if the missing "I", is not an error, but just a worn/broken device, it's still collectable as an oddity, if nothing else. (By the way, it is perf 11.)

Rather than start a new topic, here are a couple of more "poor printing" precancel overprints that look as if they also represent a broken or damaged printing device ... one from Savannah, GA and the other from Syracuse, NY. Probably not worth much, but still fun to pull out of the ordinary quantity of precancels for those cities:

looks like the I didn't have enough ink as I can see it faintly.