Washington 1903 2 Cent With Philadelphia Pre Cancel.

Washington 2 cents red 1903 with Philadelphia pre cancel. The i's in Philadelphia looks like l's. Comments welcomed.

Wow that's kind of weird isn't it? The font doesn't look the time period strangely but it looks legitimate at the same time? Maybe they was using up old stock perhaps or it could be just normal. I'm not familiar with the older precancels so maybe someone will chime in and save the day here?

Actually, the precancel type is common for the period. As for the "i" that looks like an "l": look closely at other letters and it is seen that this is simply a matter of over inking. Over inking means too much ink is on the plate or roller that transfers the impression onto the stamp causing small spaces between letters or design to fill in with ink. Note that two "a"s are also filled in and a number of spaces between letters are filled in with ink. "fill in" is probably not the correct term but it is the best I can come up with at the moment.