Help With A 1 Cent Franklin From The Philippines

Hi, I need your help. I found this Franklin 1 cent stamp, which appears to be a Philippines cancellation (FELIPINAS?). Is it an overprint? A cancellation? I haven't found it in the Scott catalog…

Looks like a cancel to me. I don't see anything related to Philippines. What am I missing?

I deduce it from the Spanish "Filipinas"...

If the diagonal marking is an overprint, and if the stamp in your scan is (at it appears to be on my monitor) truly blue, it doesn't appear to be anything official of which I'm aware. The earliest US stamps Scott lists as overprinted for use in the Philippines include the First Bureau Issue's 1¢ Franklin in green, but not in blue.

From what I've read, unoverprinted US stamps were used for a short time in the Philippines prior to the introduction of the overprinted stamps. Regrettably, I'm not knowledgeable about Philippines postal markings, so I can't comment on whether what you're seeing could be a postal marking.

I'm sending you some microscope photos; it seems the violet is very diffuse and below the cancellation layer... that's my impression...

It is safe to say that life in the Philippines was quite chaotic in the mid to late 1890s, between The Philippine Revolution, The Spanish-American War, and The Philippine-American War.

Prior to the overprinted US stamps issued in June 1899, ordinary US stamps could be used at US Military Postal Stations, here is an example (via e-bay) from February 1899.


That said, the FELIPINAS marking could have also been applied on an incoming postcard or letter from mainland USA to the Philippines during Spanish administration, for example.