Machine Cancellation Help Needed

Can anyone ID the maker of this machine cancel? I would have guessed it to be an early Barr-Fyke Experimental, but apparently the B-F experimental period in Washington, D.C. didn't start until 1897 (this cover being from 1894).

Your cover has a Barry experimental machine cancel, type EX-2a, within the known range of use.A very unusual and eye-catching style to have the word "mailed" in it.

Here is the companion piece from Chicago:


If you don't have a copy, Russell F. Hanmer's "A Collector's Guide to U.S. Machine Postmarks, 1871-1925" is very helpful in machine identification.

Thank you, John !
I'll see if I can dig up a copy of Hanmer's book.

Found a nice, clean copy on ebay and its on the way to me. Thanks again for the lead, John, as this looks like a handy reference addition to my library.

John, where does the identification of the OP's experimental Barry cancel, type EX-2a, come from? Hanmer's book (1989, 3rd Edition) identifies the experimental Barry cancel as Exp. 1 and designates it with an "R" for Rare.

A fair question. I should expand on my comments above to clarify for others too.....
Hanmer's book (I have 2nd edition here), is a basic book for machine ID and generalization on rarity. This is an excellent first-book for those interesting in getting their feet wet in the U.S. machine cancel world.
The next level of detail comes from the 3 volume "The Barry Story" by Reg Morris and Robert Payne, the source of the "EX-2a"..
To ramble off into the weeds, U.S. machine cancels have rather voluminous literature, much of it led by Morris and Payne. Pretty much a monograph on each machine. Even so, most of the titles are the first attempts to publish lists of what exists and the span of use of each. Unlisted items and date extensions are commonly found. It will take several updates to approach completion. Several new flag cancel discoveries have been made even after the 4th edition of Frederick Langford's Flag Cancel Encyclopedia. Lastly, most of these sources provide only a general value guide as can be expected when valuing a postal history item.

John, thank you for the clarification. I imagine the machine cancel universe is rather large. Dave