Help With A 1 Cent Franklin From The Philippines

I think the fantasy explanation can't be ruled out, and it's the most economical answer, but it has a flaw: it's based solely on the rarity of the stamp, without any solid red flag to draw on. Nor could it explain why the cancellation mark is above the violet one (or so it seems...).
On the other hand, the option of a shipment from the US to the Philippines during the Spanish administration, as Zebraman suggests, seems more consistent with the fact that the violet mark was approved by the postal authority that issued it and could be below it. It's also consistent with the use of an archaic Spanish term in an Anglo-Saxon context to refer to the Spanish administration. It's just a theory, because I don't really know what the shipping process to the Philippines from the US was like at that time, but it is known that stamps related to the Philippines ended up bearing the black overprint "Philippines". Another detail, not entirely conclusive, but the stamp doesn't appear in Philippines or US; it appears in Spain among old abandoned albums, mainly containing Spanish stamps from the 1930s to the 1970s…

Two points:

Which marking is above or below the other is unknown. Even if the violet marking was underneath, it still proves nothing.

More importantly, the potential "overprint" being discussed is the most poorly proportioned "overprint" you could imagine since, as Partime's retroreveal shows, it spans beyond the perimeters of the base stamp. No postal authority or ad-lib postal person would be so unthoughtful IMO.

And finally, there is the 2020 HR Harmer sale, The Julian Cabarrus Collection of the Philippines, which is a stunning and thorough collection of Philippines overprinted material. It has no such animal as the OP's stamp and if Mr. Cabarrus did not have it than it doesn't exist.

https://stampauctionnetwork.com/HA/HA3034.cfm

This is a s-t-r-e-t-c-h to say the least. Let's see if we can get ten more topic pages out of this.

Forget the over or under argument. It's impossible to tell without a super clear enlarged image, such as the VSC6000. And even then it might not be possible for sure. There is already enough information about it here to think it a total fantasy.

Well, given what I've seen, and grateful for the responses, I'll classify it as " fantasy by popular opinion", but I would have liked to see more conclusive evidence on whether the cancellation is above or below the purple mark. I've seen discussions on this forum where that kind of detail was distinguished with worse photos, and to say that it's not an important detail but not decisive is a mistake. For me, it would be, because it means the stamp was canceled with that purple mark, which, if it wasn't legal, shouldn't have happened... but if we consider the matter dead, then it remains just a theory, and that's it.

People might have claimed it was distinguishable, but it probably wasn't. As was stated earlier, you can always send it for a certificate.

You have the stamp, the matter is not dead UNLESS YOU refuse to get a certificate. No such thing as a certificate based on popular opinion.

I wouldn't mind getting it certified at all, but it's not easy for several reasons: I don't know the process, I don't know where to go, and it will most likely be difficult due to geographical distance. I'm not saying it can't be done; if it's within my means, I'd like to try.

The only one of the expertization services I've used is the American Philatelic Society's APEX. Submitting an item for review was simple--there was a form to complete, then I mailed it and the item I wanted expertized to APS, and some time later they returned it with a certificate.

I presume the other big players in the US (PF, PSAG, PSE) probably operate on similar lines, but again, I haven't used them personally.

But WHAT are they certifying? A stamp with no reference to cite.

We're approaching the 3rd page now and know that we could hit 10 with more work….

So, an unknown overprint on the wrong stamp and the overprint is not in English but in archaic Spanish at a time when Spanish stamps are inscribed "Filipinas." Also, the word is too long for the stamp.

Yet, we are wondering whether it is a legitimate overprint?