The stamped corner of a letter mailed from the Lykens Post Office, Lykens, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, on July 8, 1898, at 7 A. M.
The stamp used on this letter was issued in 1898, in recognition of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, which was held in Omaha, Nebraska, from June 1, 1898, through November 1, 1898, The stamp was part of a set of nine denominations each of which featured a subject related to the exposition. The two-cent stamp shown here is titled “Farming in the West,” and depicts a team of horses pulling a piece of farm equipment.
There was no official first day ceremony, and so-far, the earliest documented use was on June 17, 1898. In 2005, a envelope/cover with this stamp and a June 17, 1898 cancel, was listed in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers, for $12,500.
The above cancel at Lykens was applied weeks after that; to a collector, the value of the whole piece would be around $10.
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