Do I Trust This Pencilled In Date?

I found this cute little cover at a show in one of those huge bins full of random stuff. What caught my eye, in addition to the envelopes diminutive size (it's 5.5 x 2.5 in) is the pencilled in date, 1861. August of 1861 is when the 1851-61 issues were being demonetized, so this letter would have been sent right when that was happening. But it's written in pencil. Was that a common practice? Do I trust it?

Maybe it was dated by a previous owner, according the content of the cover....I have a few old Hungarian covers with content and it`s really helpful establishing date, when pmk is faded. But I don`t mark the cover.

Doesn't look to me like the kind of script used 150 years ago.

No reason not to trust it, however, it really doesn't make much difference either way. Whether the date was right or not, it certainly was either 1858, 1859, 1860, or 1861. There is no difference in the rate, rules, routing, or value for any of those dates. Perhaps it was dated at some point later based upon the contents of the envelope, but without the contents with a matching August date and the year, there is no way to be sure.

The 1857 issue was demonetized on a rolling basis starting on August 17th of 1861 (in Baltimore). While late, nothing special about an early August date for an 1857 stamp - it was the current issue used for the current rate (btw - demonetized is spelled ...mone... as in "money" - an easy way to remember that).

Last note - According to Perry, Bangor, ME received their 1861 stamps and started the exchange and demonetization period on August 21.

Chip