You will find some information on 3rd and 4th class cancels in "Killers of the Banknote Era 1870-1894" by James M. Cole. These are on Pages 307 - 313. Yours are similar, but may be slightly different than the illustrated cancels.
It apparently was more like for usage other than first class where the "normal" town cancel that had a date was to be used. Note the current last listing of the Cole database linked above in 3rd and 4th class cancel types where a Biddeford, Maine oval is used on a registered cover that was not supposed to have the usual town cancel used on its stamp(s).
In your examples, third class usage/printed matter rate is proven by a single 1c stamp being used. Even if only on piece, the paper type of the top scan and placement of stamp suggesting part of a wrapper on the bottom scan strongly imply they came from third class mail.
Gentle suggestion, that postal history questions need to show the entire mail piece. That said, I agree, the use of a 1 cent stamp and undated cancel device in that era very strongly indicates 3rd class mail.
hy-brasil's comment about the Biddeford, ME undated town oval used in the 1890s on a higher-value stamp confuses pre- and post- Jan 1, 1911 registered mail regulations, thus is incorrect for the time period. Most registered mail before Jan 1, 1911 has a dated cancel on the front side. The images in Cole's book, and thus the StampSmarter database are traced or cropped so tightly to omit the CDS portion of the device and thus render many of the entries totally useless for postal history context purposes.
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Posted 07/07/2018 11:02 am
