Precancel Type - Cold Water, NY (Dpo?)

Came across this precancel recently:



The three possibilities are 608, 704 or L-1. For a 608, the lettering looks too wide; for a 704 the spacing between city and state seems too wide; so does this narrow the choice down to an L-1?

Interestingly, I believe this is a DPO, as the last post office apparently closed there some 50 years ago and the USPS web site doesn't even recognize the town to show the next nearest post office location. In fact, a web search of the town name doesn't even come up with anything. Anyone know where this town is/was located?

Thanks.

L-1 Cold Water is one line "Coldwater, NY", Cold Water is one word.

It should be a 608.

Thanks for the info., but for a Type 608, I am comparing it against this example:



I come out with slightly different measurements between the town and state name and even in the spacing between each character in the town name looks to be farther apart in the actual stamp than on the example shown.

Is it that I'm just using a bad example to compare the two or could there be another possibility?

Well it is not a 704, it maybe undocumented variation, psuedo, fake, Chasa may have a better idea on that!

Thanks. At least the clue of "Coldwater" as one word instead of two led me to the area of New York where the post office had been. It is a suburb of Rochester.

That is the PSS-608 for sure. It is not uncommon for the PO (and the communities) to split and recombine town names like COLD WATER to COLDWATER. I live close to the COLDWATER listed on that PO map and I never knew a town by that name existed there. It is definitely a relic of a bygone era. Whether it is the location of the listed precancel I do not know. I suspect NOT - because it is so small it is unlikely so many precancels were used there [the 608 and 704 types are common]. I will ask around at the Tampa precancel meet. The L1 is scarce - I do not have one. According to the 1st ed NY Catalog it only comes on 3c and 20c parcel post, and 5c & 10c 1914's.

Thanks for the info. The Jim Forte site lists "Cold Water, NY" as a DPO closed in 1962. I also found on the web that "Coldwater, NY" was the location of old Joseph Harris Seed Catalogs, a likely user of such a precancel in its day, I would expect.

Just came up with another Cold Water, NY precancel to compare this to:



Accepting that they are both a PSS-608, I see some distinct differences between these examples. For one thing, the "N" in "N.Y." is shifted more toward the right in the 1-cent example whereas on the 5-cent stamp it appears more directly under the "D" in "COLD".

Also, I've tried to line the precancels up as close as possible and it seems to me that there is a difference in length between the top and bottom bars.

Are these both categorized the same or could there be an undocumented variety that explains these variations?

Nice examples! These are categorized the same. The shifting of state under city is semi-normal. The slight difference in line spacing might be on the plate or possibly caused by sloppy printing. Line spacing varieties need to be rather radical to earn the (4)-footnote.

Thanks for all of the additional material about these precancels. It's very helpful to me as I go through the learning process about the vast array of precancels I have in my collection.

Confirmed Cold Water, was a PO in Monroe, CO. closed in 1962.

I will take a ride over there tomorrow and do some philatelic paleontology!

Chasa, The town was/is centered on Coldwater Rd Aka Hwy 386, west of Gates & I490 exit 33 south of Buffalo Rd.