My Latest "Find": 1902 15c Clay With Chicago L-8 Hs

I wanted to share this "find" and I hope someone can confirm that this is a Chicago L-8 HS ($25), not an L-4 E (50c) OR more importantly another cheap-o classic precancel that I have missed in the catalog.

The first image lines my stamp up with the L-8, and the second shows it with the L-4 E. If I am reading the Catalog right, the 15c Clay only ever had these two Chicago "classics" on it, and the L-4 has its lines closer together and (paradoxically) has larger print than the L-8 (or mine):

Does anyone know of another cheap-o 15c precancel to burst my bubble?








One last tidbit to share with anyone who is as unfamiliar with the early US precancels as I am ... according to the catalog, both the Columbians (upto about 30c) and the Trans Miss (upto at least 10c) exist with precancels slapped on them. Amazing. Anyone got some for show-n-tell?

Unfortunately, I would say that given the illustrations provided, both of your examples above are L-4E's. The clue to me is the spacing between the letters "ICA" in "CHICAGO" is almost touching in the L-8 HS type, whereas both of the scanned stamps shown have spacing between those letters more in line with the L-4E.

I don't have any, but a "silent precancel on the 1-cent Columbian Issue is illustrated toward the end of this previous thread:

https://goscf.com/t/8144

That's a very interesting point about "ICA".

Do you think this ICA letter spacing over-rides the fact that the bars are further apart on the L4 than on mine and that my bars are exactly the same distance apart as on the L8?

[It's all the same stamp, by the way, I just scanned it twice so as to show it next to both Types to make comparisons a bit easier.]

Not quite sure. I don't have a Precancel Catalog to go by, but occasionally there ia a footnote referencing some of these details. Have you measured the distance between the bars and between the words in millimeters? These details may help to more accurately identify the differences.

All I know for sure is Chicago was one of most prolific users of precancels to the point that there are numerous varieties that at first glance appear the same, but have distinct differences. I've all but given up to try to identify the numerous ones I have as the subtle difference can often be quite difficult to discern.

Maybe someone else who is better versed in precancel varieties can chime in with an answer for you.

Just found this one in my collection. I think it's an L-4E if it's any help in comparison:



Precancel Measurements: 14.5mm between top and bottom bars; 2mm between words; and "CHICAGO" and "ILLINOIS"are both 14mm long.