Hi RLSNY --
Your stamp with the "5-line" pencil notation verso is a garden variety Scott #26 -- type III. It also looks like it might have some stray inking in the U. of U.S. POSTAGE -- but hard to tell from the scan if that is stamp ink or something else?
Regarding the cancel -- to my eye anyway -- it looks more like a WAY cancel versus a PAID.
Look at how straight and close to the design the side frame lines are -- which is characteristic of the type III's -- as these lines were cut on the plate using a straight edge guide in one fell swoop from top to bottom (versus the Scott #26A, type IV's where the side frame lines were recut freehand "stamp-by-stamp").
Regarding the "5-line" pencil notation -- that is most likely referring to position 52L25 -- commonly known as the 5-line recut in the upper left triangle -- which your stamp is not.
See below for a scan of position 52L25 so that you can see what the 5-line recut looks like -- as unlike the similarly described "5-line" recut on the imperforates (i.e., Scott #10A and 11A) where the "5-lines" are all vertically orientated -- on Scott #26, position 52L25 -- the 5 lines are comprised of 2 vertical lines, 2 lines at a slight angle that are close to horizontal, and one diagonal line.
I am attaching 2 scans for you to look at -- 1 of the full stamp -- (but low quality due to the SCF file size limit) -- and another better quality scan showing a crop of the 5-lines recut in the upper left triangle.
Regards // ioagoa
edited to add comment on the cancellation
Posted 08/26/2025 12:32 pm
