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Scott Number: 268 Collection Reference No. for Communications: 5448

Denomination/Type: 3c Jackson, purple, watermark 191, perf. 12

2023 Scott Catalog Value (for a single stamp): $ 2.25

Estimated Retail Value: $ 500.00 What is this?

Cancel Method: Manuscript

Cancel Date: July 06, 1898

Cancel or Company Type: Merchant

Company: S. L. Wadsworth

City: Eastport

State: Maine

A check on the Frontier National Bank in Eastport, Maine, dated July 6, 1898, with bisected 3-cent (Scott #268) and 1-cent (Scott #279) bureau issues improperly paying the 2 cent tax (1.5 cents + 0.5 cents = 2 cents). Across the pair of bisects is a manuscript cancel reading 'I.R. SLW & Son 7/6/98'.

S.L. Wadsworth & Son was ship chandlery established in Eastport in 1818 and still exists as a hardware store today.

While the assumption is that this piece is philatelic rather than commercial, arguments can be made as to why it MIGHT be a legitimate improper usage (that might sound like a bit of an oxymoron, but what I mean is an illegal usage done out of expediency or to defraud the government rather than a collector's creation).

1. The date July 6, 1898 is very early in the taxation period, which is when the majority of legit illegal/improper usages are found, before ample supply of revenue stamps were delivered to more remote areas.
2. Eastport Maine is a very remote location, the easternmost city/town in the United States, consisting entirely of islands.

If you have any information or comments about this cancel or stamp, please email me.