U 586 Envelope With Shifted Surcharge

Is this common or does it carry a premium?

Not sure how that happened but here is the full envelope.

Some premium. Tom Galloway will probably have more to say.

Thanks, Bill.

This issue (U586) is a challenging one and a delight for the EFO collector.

There are three general types of surcharge errors:

(1) operator placement error, where the operator loaded the envelope in the cancelling machine (a) inverted at lower left, (b) on the reverse at the upper left, or (c) on the reverse at the lower left.
(2) feed mechanism slippage error, where the rubber rolls that are moving the envelope left and right cause the envelope to skid and are out of place when the surcharge is applied.
(3) no surcharge is an error because ALL U586's should have a surcharge and an envelope without one is therefore an error.

Types 1 and 3 qualify as major errors and appear in the UPSS catalog at anywhere from $200 to $750.

The OP's envelope is a type 2. However, there are two attributes of OP's envelope that make it more desirable than its siblings: (1) the surcharge strike is almost perfectly SOTN, and (2) it is used.

This specific EFO type is not mentioned in the catalogs, but if it came up for sale in eBay, I would set my snipe at $50.

[bear in mind that I am slightly crazy when it comes to EFO's]

Hi Tom, thanks for the quick reply. I can't find my previous post form over a year ago, about my missing surcharge envelope that was on a different watermarked envelope. What is the watermark suppose to be?

Watermarks for U586 normal, inverted and missing surcharges are 47, 48A, and 49A.

WM 47 is star to the left followed by USA
WM 48A is USA followed by a star to the right (Glatfelter Paper Co) and is bolder and larger than wm 48
WM 49A is USA with the star under the S of USA (Oxford Paper Co.) and is larger than wm 49 and the U of USA has a squared bottom

". . . (b) on the reverse at the upper left, or (c) on the reverse at the lower left."

should be

". . . (b) on the reverse at the upper right, or (c) on the reverse inverted at the lower left."


*** fix to my earlier post ***

Thanks Bill and tom, So this one has 49A watermark. My other envelope from the previous forum that is missing the surcharge also has a missing watermark. I'll be listing this shifted one on eBay next week.

"My other envelope from the previous forum that is missing the surcharge also has a missing watermark."

Could you post front and back scans for this envelope that doesn't have a watermark? It would be much appreciated.

I believe your envelope does in fact have a watermark. See the star in the paper:



We should be able to determine which of the three possible watermarks.

I'm away from my collection right now. If someone else hasn't already done the sleuthing, I'll give it a try when I return.

Hi Tom, Yes I see it! Type 48 coming up from the bottom left of the star I see some of the top half of the "A". to the cross bar in the "A". In first image. Thanks!

HiTom! Thanks for all the help. I just sold the SON cover.

I never saw it. Was it a private sale?

No on eBay sold pretty quick,
Scott U586 cover with shifted surcharge SON

3193zd,
I don't have a dog in this fight, but have been following this thread. You used the knowledge of this forum to ID and sell something - without even posting here when you had listed it, or to let an auction run its full course to fairly give those who shared their knowledge with you a chance at it. Just saying they may feel a bit undercut.