Question On An Old Stamp

Hey everyone, I was going through an old stamp collection and came across the 1890 Benjamin Franklin in this set. It has a red "LR" imprinted on it. Is this a cancel? There is also black ink letters on top. It is hard to decipher, but I can make out a "T" and "P". I have never seen a stamp with letters imprinted on it. Just the typical cancels. Can anyone make any sense of this?

I've looked and looked online and haven't found any results. All the stamps are in sleeves and hinged to the plastic. I prefer not to remove the stamp to scan for a picture unless it is necessary.

welcome shoes2004 someone will have an idea I am sure. If you can scan the stamp, you stand a great chance of identification. glad to have you here posting. - jeff

Could it be Scott type A87 & possibly an "I.R" overprint in red instead of "L.R.".

By the WAY

YES! Thank you! Under a magnifying glass, I mistaked the decimal as the extensition of the "I" so it looked like an "L". Thanks again!

One last thing, the stamp is green. Is this due to fading? All of the other 1890 franklins I see are blue.

What you have is Scott #153 or 154. R153 the letters bold & solid, R154 the letters are serifed. This & others were emergency provisional issued privately prepared not officially issued per Scott. The color is green it may have been change to avoid confusion with regular postage stamp.

man I'd really love to see a picture of this stamp.

R153



R154