U532 Die 2 & 3 Precancelled Question

The Scott catalog has a specific listing for U534 die 3 envelopes that are precanceled. Does this mean only die 3 envelopes were precanceled?

Or that because most of Die 3 were precanceled, that precanceled examples of this cover are worth less?

Or is it the supposition that only Die 3 envelopes were precancelled?

Here is a U532 Die 2 3 that is precanceled.



One of the characteristics of the Die 2 cover is that the top and bottom bars of the letter E are longer than the middle bar.

Looks to be a die 2 to me from what I read, "Tall (4-1/2mm) and thin "1" in the circle; upper and lower bars of "E" in ONE long and 1mm from circle." there just no listing in the Scott Specialized for a precancel entire is all. Maybe there wasn't very many with the precancel.

Is the "1" 4.5mm tall or 3.5mm tall?

I guess if the "E" in "one" is 1.5mm from cirlce then you have a die 3.

My old Scott Standard (1976) shows that one as US Scott#U532. Has the number changed or have I made a mistake?

You are quite right.

Here is a scan of Die 2:



And Die 3:


I think you have a Die 3. Precancelled envelopes of the type portrayed in the OP were made at the same time as the envelope was embossed and folded. Die 3 was used on the press (Harris) that was configured to print the precancelling notation.

Dies 1 and 2 (Huckins press) were not used to make precancelled envelopes.

One caveat: some locals might have been made using Dies 1 or 2. I'm not sure; the Precancelled Envelopes of the United States catalog (Smith/Hynes/Randall, 2003) is not organized to facilitate a rapid scan to answer this question.

Thanks Thomas. That helps immensely. I don't even try to guess dies based on the photos in the Scott Catalog. And the descriptions aren't always that helpful either.

You can see from the picture of Die 2 that "E" in "ONE" is alot closer the the oval around numeral "1" then in Die #3, as stated in Scotts.

Did you mesure yours smauggie?