Early US Precancel Question Scott #282

I don't see too many precancels for this early U.S. Series. I see even fewer of a precancel that contains a number such as the 7-1 shown here:



I also have a virtually identical stamp without the "7-1" (just the Chicago, Illinois precancel)...I also have others in the set such as the 3 cent (Chicago 6-1) and 5 cent (Chicago 4-1) varieties.

Are these considered common? Was the 7-1, 6-1, 4-1, etc., considered a precursor to the zip codes of today in order to show the post office that may have produced them?

I just want to say that you have one heck of a stamp collection. :o)

yeah he sure does.

Thanks for your comment. The real story is how I got them. About 20 or so years ago my boss inherited boxes of stamps from a relative. (In fact, I even helped him sell off some of the good stuff.) Anyway, the remainders (i.e. junk??) were in the back of his car and he was headed to the dumpster with them. I caught it in time and asked if I could put it the trunk of my car. I split some of it with a few co-workers and yet here I am 20 years later still going through boxes of the stuff and occasionally finding oddball pieces that have some value/interest mixed among all of the common material.

G'Day mate I don't know if I can help you with this but they call this precancel stamp a variation,your Chicago 4-1 is a L-2 TS Var 1 though I don't know what this one is,it could still be listed under the same # system as a L-2 TS Var 1 I'll let some one else confirm this.
I have precancels from 1895 and 1901 so there been used from a very early date there just a little more scarce.
regards Harry

Your precancel of course is a Local dated precancel for July of 1901.

Thanks to all for the info. Since I now know the 7-1 refers to the date of July 1901, I can assume the stamp I have with a 4-1 is April 1901 which is probably the oldest one I have.

Here's a good example of my old precancel catalogues having some useful information missing from my PSS Town & Type catalogue. The PSS catalogue does have a footnote stating "Line spacing varies ..." (etc.). In the old Hoover and Rotnem catalogues, it's stated that 90 of the stamps on a sheet had a spacing of 11 1/2 mm between the lines, and the bottom row of 10 stamps had a spacing of 10 1/2 mm. Of course, there was an increase in value for the "narrows".

On the topic of value, that 6 cent stamp you show was priced 6 to 8 times as much as the most common type for that precancel design.

Ryan