The Two-cent Prexie

Transient second class use

A two-cent horizontal coil Prexie paying two times the transient second class rate of one cent per two ounces in effect from July 1, 1928 until April 1, 1952. It is unusual to see entirely domestic mail that has been censored, but this was directed to the representative of a foreign nation.

The transient second class rate for items under or equal to two ounces was two cents from April 1, 1952 until January 7, 1963.

This cover shows a bulk mail code of 39 C.F.R. 34.66, in use from July 1, 1954 to December 21 of the same year. The minimum per piece rate for bulk mail at that time was one-and-a-half cents, but this item (a catalog weighing two ounces, or very slightly more) weighed over the minimum of 1.7 ounces. The two-cent stamp is pasted over a printed statement that the article was entered as second class matter. Two cents would have been the correct transient rate for two ounces, so it appears that the sender chose that method of mailing over third class bulk.

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