J80 Postage Due Bisect On 1935 Cover From Ashland Kentucky

I've had this cover for a long time and had never studied it closely before rediscovering it last night while searching for something else. (Great to shop in your own boxes!) It appears to be a legitimate bisect of Scott J80 postage due stamp:



The cover is an unsealed envelope postmarked December 23, no doubt a Christmas card, although there are no contents now.

The intent of the sender seems to be one of two possibilities:
1. Single piece 3rd class, which had been 1.5 cents since April 1925. Consistent with being unsealed.
2. A misunderstanding of the 1 and 2 cent local rates for non-carrier and carrier offices, respectively. Ashland, KY is a first class PO with city delivery, thus 2 cents would have been required, and the sender could have sealed the envelope.

Regardless of the sender's intent and Ashland using a dated dial in their Universal machine cancel, the nixie clerks in Ashland found it underpaid, examined it, and allowed it as a single-piece 3rd class item, but due. Half a cent postage due accounted for with half of a 1 cent J80 due stamp (beautifully tied!), and an uncancelled half cent Hale stamp at the lower left for change.

I did not happen to find any bisected due examples from Ashland after a cursory search of the literature.

Thoughts/comments?

What stamps were on this to begin with? Sounds like you are implying just 1 cent, so 1/2 cent due to meet the third class rate. Was the 1/2 cent stamp at the lower left added when the postage due was paid?

Or a collector knew the people at the post office and deliberately did this and took it by hand to have the bisect added and then sent it to himself.

Only the 1 cent was original to the cover at the time of mailing.

The half cent Hale was applied as "change" and left uncanclled, typically with just a corner glued-down so it could be removed and legitimately used later.

Here is another example of the Hale stamp used as change, used during the 2 cent postcard rate of 1925-28, where 1.5 was paid, 0.5 due, 0.5 change for a one cent paid by the recipient.


And with a slip of paper slid under the unattached portion of the Hale stamp:

Fascinating. Attaching a stamp as change is something new to me. I love learning new things. Thanks for contributing to that.

I think an assumed 3rd class Christmas card is the best fit, based on the bisected due having a parcel post section/dept. cancel.

Yes, that is why I listed the 3rd class use first. Upon a closer examination, there is very light ink set-off on the back side, which shows the flap was definitely tucked-in when it passed through the canceling machine. In the era of people mailing many dozens of Christmas cards, most senders would likely apply a 1 cent stamp to each card in the stack, then a half cent stamp during a second pass. It would be very easy to miss getting a second stamp on one of them.

The circular stain above the town-dial was caused by a rusty paperclip similar to one of the circular ones in the bottom row. (Yes, I have a modest accumulation of odd paperclips!)

A bit late to this thread, but I have a similar earlier bisect, although IMO a bit less questionable from a commercial vs. philatelic usage perspective.

Population history of Fenwood, Wisconsin puts it at 178 in 1920 and 136 in 1930, so it's small enough of a town that it's possible they did not have any half-cent due stamps. The date of the cover puts it at approximately 5 months after J68 was issued.


Typed writeup came with the cover.

I believe this cover was a failed 1928 attempt to get a 1/2 cent postage due on cover.

The sender used a 1 1/2 cent #U495 and sent it under the First Class 2 cent rate at that time. The PO caught the postage due, stamped it as such, but applied a 1 Cent postage due stamp.

The addressee was Henry Laker who was an active stamp collector in Indianapolis in the mid-1920s.

Thoughts on if I have the above correct?
Don

Edit: If I have the above interpretation correct, then this offers addition evidence that 1/2 cent postage due usages are extremely rare.

Does that handstamp say "Postage Due 1 Cent" or 1/2 Cent ? It looks to me like "1 Cent". Did the receiving PO in Indianapolis misread the U495 as a 1 cent prepaid, (not observing the surcharge hidden behind the cancel) and call for a 1 cent due to meet the 2 cent rate?

Arkansas to Indiana:
First class would be 2 cents
Third class (unsealed) would be 1.5 cents.

I agree with the direction of the previous analysis that a simple explanation would be a philatelic attempt to get a 1/2 due marking and stamp by sealing a 3rd class-rated mailing making it a 1st class letter, but the cancel obscured the re-valued marking on the envelope and the clerk charged 1 cent due in error.

I am bumping this topic of postage due bisects to add another rather than scattering it, bisect PD, in on a new thread. {Edit to add:} The normal search functions available will return this tread for bisect postage due, JQ5 and J46 information if someone asks.

Here, the postal clerk clearly intended this bisect on this piece which has no reason to be claimed philatelicly inspired. For me, the JQ5 on piece was a yawn(**), but the Bisected J46 (per listing description) made this quite interesting for me. Of course I don't mind keeping JQ5 items off the market.


Listed and sold 6-15-2025 titled as, "US SCOTT# JQ5, J46 BI SECT ON 1913 PARTIAL COVER." The date is clearly May 1914, not 1913 (if only....).

** I am well beyond needing JQs on just a piece, even a JQ5. JQ5s on tag, wrapper or cover are exceedingly difficult, so there is demand from items on piece even when, such as the one I show here, have no sender addressee information. One of those would be nice, both even better. Here we just know it went to Terra Haute, Ind.

This piece was likely from a parcel post mailing which is a most difficult version to find of JQ5s. In order of available items, scarcity runs as follows, Parcel Post 1-1-1913 through 6-30-1913, any parcel post on and after 7-1-1913, 3rd class, returned, bulk matter, foreign incoming UPU letter rate matter, domestic !st class matter. While second class returned matter could exist (returned 2nd class was charges at the 3rd class rates but remained 2nd class) I have never seen such usage with the JQ5 or with a total for 25 cents or more due paid at once.

* * * Date correction by Moderator. Was accidentally shown as a phone number* * *