Red Line Cross Cancel

I need help with this cancel, I thought 20 years ago I saw it on set of essays.

looks to be a early precancel....
not a precancel expert.

These are called presentation copies. The magenta cancel was applied to prevent use of the stamp.

I agree with Sinclair. In fact, these usually still have OG, and whether with OG or not, they are really "unused" stamps but they are actually valued as "used" by the marketplace, and in general, they are not very popular with collectors because, I suppose, of their "hybrid" nature ("Unused" but with a "cancel"!). A check of Siegel's website will show lots of them sold over the years and virtually always at low prices.

I actually knew this one! What was the presentation copies used for? Anyone know?

If I had to make an educated guess, I would suggest that these was probably sent to postmasters to inform them of the new issues and what they looked like? Am I close?

I actually kind of like this one. Maybe I'll look into getting one.
Tom

I think this is really great looking. *Wish it was centered better*. The stamp image is made with beautiful blue curved lines and circles. Then, bam, cold and rigid red lines across it. very cool.