2-Cent Jackson Identification

Postmark sadly is undecipherable, I make this stamp as Scott #157. As always color is hard to distinguish ...

cover


stamp


closeup

You might take a look at this thread from a few weeks ago.
https://goscf.com/t/46707
Don
APS #094826

The postmark is not hard to figure out. As a hint, what was the first class postage rate when this stamp was current? Then look at the cornercard.


Does it show a secret mark in your closeup, as you see it?

Wikipedia tells me that the postage rate was 6¢ for the first ounce and 3¢ for a half ounce up until 1883 ... then the rate went down to 4¢ and 2¢. So since #157 was issued in 1873 it's probably not a 157? Is that what you mean? The last A45/45a was the vermilion 183 issued in 1879 (outside of the ultra rare 193) ... but this stamp is surely not vermilion. I guess I don't see what you are getting at.

I'm not sure what a cornercard is ... and no I don't see a secret mark. Do you?

Useful link - Identification Guide for Two Cent United States Postage Stamps
http://dubinweb.com/USpostagestamps/twocents.html

thanks Aurora .. I looked at that site and I suppose that #146 would be the right ID since I don't see a secret mark. Doesn't solve the date problem above if I'm reading essayk right.

Googled cornercard for postal stationary and as I suspected it refers to the return address. Did businesses get a discount on postage? I can't find anything about bulk rate before 1926.

No. Just the opposite. The cornercard is the printed return address in the UL corner of the envelope. It identifies the sender as being in "Charleston, South Carolina" and that is consistent with what can be read of the postmark.

Now, when you look at the written address, you find that the addressee is also in Charleston, S.C. Therefore the 2c rate is for local delivery, not regular first class. All that is in keeping with the period when the 2c National and Continental stamps in brown were current. So now it comes down to color and secret mark. On my monitor the shade of the stamp seems a bit dark for National, and I do believe the closeup shows the closed loop and little diagonal hashmark of the 2c Continental secret mark.

So I would call it a 157 based on what I'm seeing on my screen.