Deep Rose - Perf Schermak III ??

The stamp would be signed on the reverse.

dzpaper, I think you need to post a sharper scan. And Redwoodrandy is correct, the stamp would have been signed on the back.

Peter

Let's correct a few things about the coil on the postcard:
Color and any supposed double printing are completely independent features of each other.
The triangular black mark at the lower right of the stamp is part of a cancel. It is NOT an expertiser's mark.
The cancel is an RPO, most likely N.Y. & Chi. R.P.O. / M.D., consistent with a card showing an Ohio scene. Note the punctuation: M.D., so it is not Maryland, and the "TR28" clearly indicates its railroad origin.

dzpaper, To get the best results from this forum and have it serve as a learning tool, please tell us what Scott # you think this stamp is and why. Also, as others have requested, without a better scan, there is not much more help we can provide. You seem to be trying to identify these stamps solely by color, rather than starting with design type, perforation rate, die type, and watermark.

Dear Peter,

Let's see below the true colour of my stamp with a very high DPI scan :

Is that a finger print I see ?

what you mean by a finger print ?

There is a partial ink fingerprint on the card at the left perfs of the stamp below the letter "D" of POSTCARD. Probably caused by an RPO clerk who grabbed the stamp there right after cancel ink was applied.

It wasn't called out above, but M.D. likely means Middle Division of the railroad that operated the RPO car. TR28 for train 28 indicates an RPO cancel. It could have been the Pennsylvania Railroad Middle Division which covered eastern Pennsylvania. The card could have been moved from Cleveland toward Philadelphia and canceled near Philly. Rail traffic volume was at or near its peak in 1920, so overseas cards departing the country via New York may have been put aside during the run from Cleveland to another point and canceled down the line.

I'll go out on a limb, while admitting I'm still practicing W-F identification: The stamp is Scott 453.

A perf measurement is needed. As others have noted, you can't ID the stamp based on color alone.

Chris

I'm wondering if the stamp is native to the card. Besides a faded curved line not much else ties it to the cover. Anyone else thinks it may have been lifted at some point ?

Handling of RPO mails: This scan from the 1913 Postal Laws and Regulations, Title XI, Railway Mail Service, would indicate very strongly that mail is (faced and) canceled immediately, THEN sorted to its destination. (I.e., protect the revenue first, then worry about its delivery.) Most mail came onto the trains already canceled.



The stamp sure looks like type III, which means either a 455 or 492 depending on watermark, and leaning very strongly toward 492 as the 455's would have been essentially obsolete by 1920. No perf checking is needed. A common stamp in either case.

I see no reason to doubt the origin of this stamp of this card. It is current issue, pays the correct rate, and is lightly tied.

that it's most probably a #492.

I agree that but the 492 is not coil stamp !?

492 is the 2 cent perf 10 vertically rotary coil type III, which is very probably what this stamp is.

I agree that but believe me when i'd put it aside the 492 I notice a great difference in colour & printing type.

dzpaper, you need to realize the time in which these stamps were printed. Even today with our modern printing technology we still manage to see different shades in stamps, especially in definitives that are reprinted. Back then paints and inks had to be hand mixed - it is amazing they came as close as they did!

Peter