U273 Earliest Known Date?

I have what seems to be U273 (I'm pretty sure of it) with a mailing postmark of May 2 and a backstamp that is hard to read, but appears to be 1884. I suppose it could be interpreted as 1887, but under magnification it really looks like 1884 to me.

Scott lists the issue date only as "June 1884".

Is there agreement that this seems to be used May 2, 1884 ?

If so, who maintains the EKU list for these envelopes? I want to double check with the "appropriate authority" before I waste the Scott editors' time.

The United Postal Stationery Society (upss.org) maintains an online database of ERPs. It acts sort of as a wiki. Their earliest U273 is postmarked August 18, 1884.

How about giving us a hi-res scan of just the back stamp?

Here are higher-res images of the indicia (to confirm it is really a U273) and of the backstamp (to confirm that really is 1884). I know the backstamp year date is hard to read, but it can't be an 81 and it does not look like an 87 to me; the best I can get out of it is 84.





In my browser, clicking either of these images will open a greatly expanded version. However, if that does not work in your browser, I have also placed the images at

http://jsa.viewimage.net/temp/stamp...73-front.jpg
http://jsa.viewimage.net/temp/stamp...ackstamp.jpg

Really looks like the recieving postmark bounced giving a doubled strike of 5-2-87.

I'll defer to a postal history practitioner.

So hard to tell but I would lean towards it being 1887. My reason is not only does it look more like a 7 than a 4 but also because I am not sure I am seeing enough space between the 8 and the last digit to accommodate the left side of a numeral 4. Also, one would need a clear and sufficiently non-questionable example to claim something like an "earliest known example" title.

To be acknowledged by Scott you would need to have a certificate from an expertizing authority. APEX has been the leading examiner and certification authority of US postal stationery EDUs for many years. Submission to the UPSS ERP database would be a cost wise first step as all you need to submit are scans. However, as the keeper of the UPSS database I would request that this cover be sent to me for physical examination due to the question of the year stamp.

Inverting the colors help make the doubled (bounced strike) stand out, even the dashes are doubled. If the edge of the envelope flap were to be un-folded and layed back down, we would most likely see the top of the P is also doubled. 5-2-87.