Neato 1c Franklin Combo Pair--> 3l4 & 13l4

A vertical combo pair of Types II & IIIa. Top stamp is Type II Position 3L4, bottom stamp is Type IIIa Position 13L4. Large dated SEP NEW YORK CDS.

Nice pair. The perforated Plate 4 stamps often have nice impressions - usually not showing nearly as much wear as their imperforate counterparts. This is counter-intuitive, unless, as has been stipulated, that the stamps were printed, stacked and used LIFO. They used the last printed sheets first, and the earliest printed sheets later -- when they started perforating these.

Actually, I've always argued that 3L4 is usually a IIIA, with the bottom line broken. Yours is close -- there may still be a faint line, but this is clearly an early impression. My eyes are too tired to focus now.

Thanks for the information txstamp; much appreciated! It looks like there is a very faint line on the bottom of 3L4. The placement of the cancels, also makes me wonder if there may have been more than just these 2 stamps(unless the stamps were placed on the left side).

Its hard to know for sure what else was on the cover with this pair, if anything. The 3c rate certainly was the most common, but the 2c rate would have paid a circular to western europe. Also of course, this pair could have been on a cover in addition to some other stamps of a different denomination, to make up some entirely different rate.

You can always monitor ebay and maybe 23L with a matching cancel will show up someday. I had that happen to me, with a pair that I used to have.