Question Re Precancels

Can someone please tell me what is going on with these two? The 4 cent appears to be slightly misregistered both vertically and horizontally as well as having a slight doubling of the letters. Is there something in front of the DUNELLEN or is that part of the N from the previous stamp in the pane? What is the MW.OCT 81 (61?) under (over?) the Baltimore and why the slight diagonal underneath the precancel? I would like to expand from Canadian precancels into at least modern U.S. but would really appreciate the name of a good basic catalogue as well. Thanks.

The lower stamp was used by Montgomry Wards [MW] in the month of October 1961.

The upper stamp is a normal precancel overprint to low making it appear to have 2 lines above it.

Here's a link to a previous post on the subject. Refer to the article appearing on Page 12 ... good information for beginners in precancel collecting.

https://goscf.com/t/11725

Thanks both. It was an interesting article and I had not realized that U.S. precancels were so complex in comparison to the Canadian version. Maybe rethink launching that project.

Backroads, The Canadian precancels are fun & interesting. They are also alittle more pricey to get start into, but smaller and easily managable.

The complexity of US precancels can be overwelling yet in most cases very affordable to get started, but inorder to complete any goal it will get pricey. Ultimately the fun is in the hunt!