1c Blue, Ty. IV, Printed
"Paid" Precancel (9 var). Horizontal pair, left stamp in all capital
letters, right stamp all lower case, large margins to just in, used on
brown newspaper wrapper addressed to Southington Conn., accompanied by
original enclosure of The American Eagle newspaper of
Cleveland O. dated Feb. 2, 1857, left stamp small corner crease at
bottom left, few small toned spots, wrapper aged and brittle, newspaper
with some slight toning spots and minor edgewearVERY FINE APPEARANCE. A NEWLY-DISCOVERED WRAPPER WITH A PAIR OF THE "PAID" PRECANCEL. THE ENCLOSURE SOLVES THE MYSTERY OF WHERE THIS RARE PRECANCEL ORIGINATED. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF THIS PRECANCEL ON A WRAPPER.
Little is known about the "Paid" precancels on the 1c 1851 Issue. The Ashbrook 1c book illustrates several varieties of actual and supposed precancels, including a pair similar to that offered here. Ashbrook surmises that "the markings..were printed from newspaper type. In all probability the overprinting was done in a newspaper printing plant, and the stamps were used on wrappers enclosing newspapers or more than probable, on the newspapers themselves."
With 2004 P.F. certificate. A new discovery offered to the market for the first time. The wrapper requires paper conservation to prevent further acidification, but the newspaper is unaffected by aging. (Image)