December 10 - This day in history

DECEMBER 10TH design of.1870-1871 BARTON MARYLAND- PIEDMONT COAL & IRON CO.
BARTON ALLEGHENY CO., MD. On Scott #U46 or #U45 on cream stationery.



If anyone is any good with the postal stationery or collects & studies them, then I would really very much appreciate some assistance. Paper color and correct Scott number designation.

 In my (2007) Scott specialized it only made mention of a few - Scott design number # U45 #U46 or #U45 (depending on the shape of his head) on cream stationery.

However the U44, U45 * U46 are te design of many examples. For instance:

- Design U44 could be one of ~ #U159, #U60,#161,#+162
- Design U45 could be one of ~ #U163, #U164, #U165, #U166, #167
- Design U46 could be one of ~ #U168, #U169, #U170, #U171

So you can probably see my frustration with these right?
Any help or assistance would be great and I am very sper4 ultra-mega thankful in advance. -Jeffrey


It does have a rather fanciful watermark in the paper. (Shown below). Taken with a Fugi FinePix S700 Digital Camera and the subject at hand is held obliquely to my desk lamp.








Here is the whole unaltered image of the full cover to see the actual color of paper.




Scanned @ 1200dpi to better show the postal design: {No manipulation at all}



I apologize for the long post but I was just trying to correctky I identify all my postal stationery covers but thankfully most of mine aren't that difficult.