Scott 15 On Cover

A while back I picked up this cover because of the markings. From New York to Germany via Prussian closed mail. It looks like there may have been another stamp attached at one point. The letter is in German so if someone can decipher the front I would appreciate it. There is also another marking on the back that I can't make out something like SCT____BERT then a 2 over a 3? What would that be?

Art

It's a German townstamp (receiving mark)
Sorry I can't figure it out, but I'd go with SOT...GBERT
Date is March 2 (which makes sense, considering the Feb 28 Aachen transit marking).

1859 is a bit late for an imperforate, and it looks as though there is the shadow of what could have been another stamp above the one on it. Additionally, manuscript cancellations on a NY Foreign mail cover are also out of the ordinary. Not sure that stamp originated on this cover.

Art...please post the cert # on the #293.

IMO Chip is completely right.

It's a Prussian Closed Mail cover that was originally (I'm too lazy to check the exact rate) almost certainly a 30c prepaid rate. Looking at the scan it appears that there was a horizontal strip of 3 or 3 single perforated stamps on there (there were originally stamps straddling each side of the stamp that's currently on the cover).

I'd wager that since the cover was used a bit earlier than the common Type V was known to be used that it originally had a strip of rather valuable Type 2 or Type 3 stamps on it and that they were removed. It was probably faked with an incorrect stamp sometime before WW2. PCM rates of this era are common knowledge to collectors of this sort of material these days (PCM covers to Germany are one of the 4 or 5 most common transatlantic uses of that era that you'll find) but not so much in the early 20th Century so it might not have been such an obvious "problem cover".

Neat item, but I'd certainly wager that the stamp did not in any way originate.

Kevin,

I'm away from my collection. I'm on a contract in PA and I live in GA. When I am home I'm only there for 3 days every 14. With this schedule I barely have time to check the mail, accomplish the Huneydo's and visit with my family. There just isn't time for much else.

Chip & Bill,

Thanks for your input. I was concerned that the stamp had brother(s).
I'll put the cover with my other "Orphans".

Side note, I just recently purchased a small cover with a strip of 3 with 97R2,98R2 & 99R2. I'll post a scan of it next day or two.

Art

Edited for content.