U411B Plate Flaw, Rpo Ragon Bros Evansville In

A friend gifted me these 12 Indiana RPO covers shown below; I believe them to be identified as three #U311 and nine #U411b. All the #U411b appear to have a plate flaw as shown here

Question #1 - I assume that this is a plate flaw and that it is known?

All these covers appear to be 'return envelopes' from Ragon Brothers of Evansville Indiana. The Ragon Brothers were wholesale grocers and were established in 1888, it appears that they were also proprietors of the Diamond Coffee and Spice Mills. Here is an image of the Ragon Brothers building in Evansville CA late 1880s.

The RPO markings include the Danville & Cairo and Danville & St. Louis. I believe that these lines ran near Evansville as shown on this RR line map.

Question #2 – To John Becker… As the resident Indiana postal history guy, would these covers fit in your collection/library? If so, let me know and I'll pass them along to you.
Don

They would. Of particular interest is the Danville & Cairo marks with and without the rim break at left, whether there are 2 devices or progressive damage.

I used to live in Evansville, IN. Nice items.

I collect die varieties of U.S. envelopes, but have not seen the 2 cent Merc you have posted. Quite a nice item.

Care to share a nice high resolution scan of the indicia with us?

Thomas

Sorry Thomas, I have already passed these on John Becker. Perhaps if he has the bandwidth he can post that scan for you.
DOn

Thomas,
Shoot me an email. I'll see what I can do when they arrive. -John