Is This The Ugliest Business College Practice Stamp Of All Time?

What at first looks like one of the crudest "postage" stamp-like thing ever, turns out to be something totally unexpected.



What is that thing in the center, anyway? Is it supposed to be a ship or something?

Courtesy of www.postmark-reveal.com, the barely readable handstamped cancel reads part of "business college" near the top, which makes this a "new" variety that has not been seen before, at least by me.



Can anyone make out any other words in the cancel? What is that weird symbol just under the "nt" of "cents"?

Jim

Looks like an arrow?


Peter

Side-wheel steam powered paddle ship with masts. Google for other images than shown below.



Edit: To add quote.

Almost as ugly as this one.

Referred to as a FLEURON

A fleuron also known as printers' flower, is a typographic element, or glyph, used either as a punctuation mark or as an ornament for typographic compositions.

or, if you prefer, Ornamental Dingbat

Not evidenced in "College Stamps"
Author : Larry Lyons

The Penny Post
Volume 18 Number 4
October 2010

Page 33

Some 40 or so, perhaps more, college stamps.

Also mentioned Phantasies by Samuel Taylor.


Perhaps can read ???? LINS Business College.
No such college in the search from item above.

Rodney,

Larry's particular article was in fact based on my book, College and School Stamps.

Jim

Hi Jim,
I thought so, it looked fairly comprehensive
I was hoping to find a school ending in "LIN'S" , but no.

I was curious at the bottom, also ????SAY CITY
Unusual to have "City" in an US address ?

Unusual to have "City" in an US address ?
Carson City, Oklahoma City, New York City, I'm sure there are others not to mention those that had the word city in their names long ago and have since dropped them.

Thank you Stephen !

More common in the US than in the UK, I think - "City" is more often part of the title of a football team than the place itself.

Unusual or not, there are or were at least 1562 US Post Offices the name of which includes the word, "City" per this: https://www.postalhistory.com/posto...rchtype=word

That is a free feature Jim Forte has embedded in his retail and informational website.

Thank you PPG


I was thinking perhaps Mexico as an option.

Personal Opinion.
I don't consider it ugly at all, rather handsome as a label of that time,
Others of this ilk (at that time) are horrendous.

Thinking aloud,
The large well produced 2 ring CDS (Circular Date Stamp) cancellation,
looks quite professional, ergo, it is surprising lots more of these labels do not survive for identification.

Perhaps if the vessel is identified, it may offer a clue to the Business College.
There cant be too many 4 masted Paddle steamers existant.

example "Great Western" (SS Great Western)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Great_Western
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great...rmal_College

Specifically, it is an outlined only "Mars symbol" which is a symbol not normally included in the broad category of fleurons. The symbol above the "WO" and below the ship would qualify.

Mars symbol:

My guess -- Franklin's Business College, NYC

I disagree with parcelpostguy. I think it is more like an outline of a spinner arrow from a boardgame. There are 2 of them on the cancel. One below the P in Postage, and the original one at the bottom. Both have lines of the image on the left and right of the circle.