Circus Wagon Efo?

Just found this, and maybe I will leave it on piece. Here is Scott 2452D, but the right-hand stamp has noticeable breaks in the pattern. When held at an oblique angle, it certainly looks like it was never inked in those areas. There is a tear in the right side, but probably due to an overzealous person cropping this from the envelope. Do we have an EFO, or do we think that this happened it the mailing process, just before it was cancelled?

Partime....
you should be able to tell looking at this under magnification.
If you see fibers it is a rub, scrape, etc....
From the scan.....looks to be underinked.

I would go on the side of a rub from automation activity. The lower area of the cancel shows almost a similar pattern. the moving mechanisms in automation are rubber belts & wheels. sometimes at re-start of equipment they tend to spin before grabbing and could be a cause for this effect.?

The postmarks are hand cancels and over the areas with the missing ink. I don't think the postmarks show any signs of missing ink - just uneven thickness that is natural for a handstamp. Since handstamps tend to be applied before entering any processing equipment, I think we can rule out any rub marks from processing machinery. I believe Kevin is right and underinking is the culprit.

I will try and post a high res photo later tonight. My initial look yesterday was a complete lack of ink in those areas, and viewing from the side showed a high gloss look at all areas of the stamp, except for the missing areas. However, they did not look scraped as there was no evidence of pulled fibers or paper tears in those areas.

It looks very much like missing ink, for whatever reason. Maybe some pieces of dirt stuck to the plate? This particular stamp was printed by Stamp Venturers and I have seen similar EFO's on their stamps.

Peter.

OK, tried some photos with the camera rather than scanner. Hopefully these show a little better what I think is the color actually peeled away from the face of the stamp before it was applied on the letter and mailed. Interesting, nonetheless.

Partime....YEP, looks to be surface scrapes.

agree with Kevin - scuffed/scraped

Yes, agree. But scuffed/scraped BEFORE putting on the envelope?