Dallas Texas Precancel Test / Dummy Blank Gutter Pair

Hi everybody,

I was just wondering if anybody has seen anything like this before.
This appears to be a test for this DALLAS TEXAS (Bureau / town) precanel.
It is on blank perf 11 x 10-1/2 ungummed paper with a full vertical gutter between, and also has the precancel shifted so that TEXAS is at the top, and DALLAS is at the bottom.
Looking at this very closely under 20x magnification there is also some blue ink streaks on the paper.
I have not tried to match the color yet with an actual stamp that this could have been from.
I know there are quite a few error listings with stamps with this perf and full vertical gutter between.
Any info or comments are welcome.

Thank you
Mike

Mike, Welcome to the Stamp Community Forum!

I did a check of the Scott Specialized catalog under Test Stamps and nothing similar to this is listed. I have a feeling this might be a test stamp, rather than a test of a precancel device.

It does not match any Bureau precancel types, so that would make it a local, if it is a precancel experiment. What has me puzzeled particularly is the gutter between the stamps. Unless this was printed and perforated and someone deliberately separated out a pair across the gutters, there would be no real reason to create such a mock-up. I'm spit-balling here and hopefully someone else will wade in on this with some other ideas.

You might want to send this to the Precancel Stamp Society folks (a scan) and see if anyone there could help you. There is also a Test Stamp Group with the United States Stamp Society; they may be able to shed some light on it.

Thanks for the welcome Stampman2002

I believe you are correct, after your post, I decided to double check the test listings.

There actually is a listing for a perf 11-1/4 x 10-1/2 blank test stamp (TD84 & TD84a).
Sure enough using the more accurate perf gauge, it is perf 11-1/4 not perf 11. Both are listed with gum and the TD84 has a listing for a vertical pair with full gutter between.
At first I thought it was done at the BEP, using some unprinted stamps to test the precancel alignment, but if this doesn't match a Bureau precancel type, then that is most unlikely.
Just speculating but perhaps the printer who applies the local precancel obtained some of the test stamps in full sheets to test the alignment. It seems if this is was the case there would be more out there that would have shown up by now.