My First 1862 Cancellation

Stopped by the local stamp store on my way home last night and picked this one up along with a few others. I don't have many Revenue Stamps yet, but have been keeping my eye open for some 1862 cancelled stamps. This R48a is courtesy of the Illinois Central Railroad.

Love the early cancel and am envious not only of the fact that you have a local stamp shop that you can stop by on your way home from work, but that the stamp shop would have revenues!

It's Maryland Stamp & Coin in Bethesda. They have a huge online presence for stamp supplies. The brick & mortar section is really small though. However, being one of the only stores in the area that I know of, people bring their old collections in to sell. David, the guy that's there when I go in on Thursday evenings, let's me look through the lots that he's bought but hasn't had time to go through. Pretty cool opportunity.

Nice cancel! Almost missed 1862, another day and it's 1863. Is the yellow spot in the lower right corner a scanner artifact or something more ominous?

It is something more ominous, definitely on the stamp, not a scanner issue. Not educated enough to know what may have caused it.

This is a beautiful bullseye railroad cancel. A nice acquisition. Slightly envious.

This stamp was cancelled in the sheet (or whatever size multiple) before it was put on a document. And there was deliberate care taken to keep it legible as well. Nice of them to do that for us. :-)

Yup. :)

Very nice. The cancellation on mine is a little more smudged. Why double-cancel it though?

Someone was overzealous. Remember, this was as much a theft preventative as anything else.