Yet Another Unlisted Test Stamp?

Anyone have any idea what this stamp is?

Is it a practice stamp used by students in old schools or colleges?

Or is it a test or dummy stamp?

The only cover that I've seen offers nothing at all to answer these questions.

What do you think?

Jim

I would guess you are right in guessing it is a practice stamp used by students in old schools or colleges

I've considered it a practice school stamp since I got it, but what makes me think it's a test stamp is its "generic-ness."

You would normally think that, if someone was going to make the effort and expense in designing, printing, perforating, and gumming a stamp for their school, the least that they'd do would be to put a name on it. Almost all of the other college and school stamps that I have (which is most of the known stamps), have some sort of name or image, and usually "postage" or "revenue," and also a denomination of some kind.

Test stamps, on the other hand, are known with just a boring square, or are blank altogether.

Lastly, the weird ornaments that are all over this stamp might make sense if the stamp was printed by letterpress, and the guy making the stamp was lazy and just used a lot of the same ornament when he was setting the type. But the stamps aren't printed by letterpress.

Jim