J80 Postage Due Bisect On 1935 Cover From Ashland Kentucky

I've had this cover for a long time and had never studied it closely before rediscovering it last night while searching for something else. (Great to shop in your own boxes!) It appears to be a legitimate bisect of Scott J80 postage due stamp:



The cover is an unsealed envelope postmarked December 23, no doubt a Christmas card, although there are no contents now.

The intent of the sender seems to be one of two possibilities:
1. Single piece 3rd class, which had been 1.5 cents since April 1925. Consistent with being unsealed.
2. A misunderstanding of the 1 and 2 cent local rates for non-carrier and carrier offices, respectively. Ashland, KY is a first class PO with city delivery, thus 2 cents would have been required, and the sender could have sealed the envelope.

Regardless of the sender's intent and Ashland using a dated dial in their Universal machine cancel, the nixie clerks in Ashland found it underpaid, examined it, and allowed it as a single-piece 3rd class item, but due. Half a cent postage due accounted for with half of a 1 cent J80 due stamp (beautifully tied!), and an uncancelled half cent Hale stamp at the lower left for change.

I did not happen to find any bisected due examples from Ashland after a cursory search of the literature.

Thoughts/comments?

What stamps were on this to begin with? Sounds like you are implying just 1 cent, so 1/2 cent due to meet the third class rate. Was the 1/2 cent stamp at the lower left added when the postage due was paid?

Or a collector knew the people at the post office and deliberately did this and took it by hand to have the bisect added and then sent it to himself.

Only the 1 cent was original to the cover at the time of mailing.

The half cent Hale was applied as "change" and left uncanclled, typically with just a corner glued-down so it could be removed and legitimately used later.

Here is another example of the Hale stamp used as change, used during the 2 cent postcard rate of 1925-28, where 1.5 was paid, 0.5 due, 0.5 change for a one cent paid by the recipient.


And with a slip of paper slid under the unattached portion of the Hale stamp:

Fascinating. Attaching a stamp as change is something new to me. I love learning new things. Thanks for contributing to that.

I think an assumed 3rd class Christmas card is the best fit, based on the bisected due having a parcel post section/dept. cancel.

Yes, that is why I listed the 3rd class use first. Upon a closer examination, there is very light ink set-off on the back side, which shows the flap was definitely tucked-in when it passed through the canceling machine. In the era of people mailing many dozens of Christmas cards, most senders would likely apply a 1 cent stamp to each card in the stack, then a half cent stamp during a second pass. It would be very easy to miss getting a second stamp on one of them.

The circular stain above the town-dial was caused by a rusty paperclip similar to one of the circular ones in the bottom row. (Yes, I have a modest accumulation of odd paperclips!)

A bit late to this thread, but I have a similar earlier bisect, although IMO a bit less questionable from a commercial vs. philatelic usage perspective.

Population history of Fenwood, Wisconsin puts it at 178 in 1920 and 136 in 1930, so it's small enough of a town that it's possible they did not have any half-cent due stamps. The date of the cover puts it at approximately 5 months after J68 was issued.


Typed writeup came with the cover.

I believe this cover was a failed 1928 attempt to get a 1/2 cent postage due on cover.

The sender used a 1 1/2 cent #U495 and sent it under the First Class 2 cent rate at that time. The PO caught the postage due, stamped it as such, but applied a 1 Cent postage due stamp.

The addressee was Henry Laker who was an active stamp collector in Indianapolis in the mid-1920s.

Thoughts on if I have the above correct?
Don

Edit: If I have the above interpretation correct, then this offers addition evidence that 1/2 cent postage due usages are extremely rare.

Does that handstamp say "Postage Due 1 Cent" or 1/2 Cent ? It looks to me like "1 Cent". Did the receiving PO in Indianapolis misread the U495 as a 1 cent prepaid, (not observing the surcharge hidden behind the cancel) and call for a 1 cent due to meet the 2 cent rate?

Arkansas to Indiana:
First class would be 2 cents
Third class (unsealed) would be 1.5 cents.

I agree with the direction of the previous analysis that a simple explanation would be a philatelic attempt to get a 1/2 due marking and stamp by sealing a 3rd class-rated mailing making it a 1st class letter, but the cancel obscured the re-valued marking on the envelope and the clerk charged 1 cent due in error.