Newark, NJ Manuscript Dated Precancel Sr&l 8-38

Is this unique? It seems as though someone put forth the effort to handwrite the date and company initials on the stamp. (Seems as though it would have taken an inordinate amount of time to do it that way.) But since it is an early dated precancel, could it be that this was an interim measure until a date stamp was secured?

Could "SR&L" stand for "Stanley Rule and Level"?

WT1 you are correct! Very uncommon!
You have discovered a new variation the manuscript is noted but only for 7/38 you have an 8/38, plus either it is an oversight or new, but the manuscript is listed as "SRL" not as "SR&L" as shown.

Also used "SR&L" 1938-40 using type "C4".

Thanks for this interesting update. I'll be sure to keep this post with the stamp to document your findings.

Although this is the only manuscript dated I have come across, I did find a whole box of precancel stamps intermingled with many dateds of various companies through to the 1950's. Even when removing the Montgomery Ward and Sears examples, there are myriad of different size initials and dates that I haven't even begun to go through in any detail yet. I'll be sure to post some more of the interesting ones as I go along.

Sounds like you stumbled into a nice fine, usually when you get these 90% are either Sears or Wards, everything else seems hard to come by.

Pardon my skeptical side, but how do we know that this isn't the work of some unscrupulous collector who hand inked this years later?

Frankie