Help Needed On 26

With the recent chat and links added in the forum the last week or so, I am now confused on the identity of these. Both on cover and dates are hard to make out. Suspect they are 1861...it appears the line on the 3rd image stops just shy of the perf tip.

Thank you,
Eagle

Both of them are #26, the second one with centerline and natural straight edge.

yes thanks sinclair but is there a way to tell the type or does it even matter?

#26 is a type III.

Yes and Yes. The Scott #26 can only be a Type III. Below are the possible possible Scott/Type combinations of the 3c 1851-61 stamp.

Type I (No inner framelines): #10, 11, or 25.

Type II (One or both inner framelines recut): #10A, 11A, or 25A.

Type III (Continuous outer framelines, no frameline at top or bottom): #26.

Type IV (Same as Type III except outer framelines broken at top and bottom): #26A.

The major key to identifying the Type IV #26A is understanding how the plates were recut. The Type IV plates, Plate 10 and 11, were the first plates made to allow for more room between stamps for perforating. The top and bottom framelines were removed but the side lines still needed to be recut. Each frameline was individually recut by hand and apparently without the aid of a straight edge. The result
was of course the broken framelines but they are also usually noticeably crooked. The Type III framelines are almost always perfectly straight.

Beware of top and bottom row Type III stamps being offered as Type IV stamps. Top row copies are easy to recognize because they are always an A relief stamp and exhibit the relief damage that is unique to the A relief. However, some top row, A relief stamps are indeed Type IV stamps :)

Thanks for the feedback! Here is the cover on one of them I think is pretty neat.

I have a cover to that guy too!