1843, 1844 pair of SFL relating to 2 1/2% exchange surcharge, the first 1843 Hamilton, UC (DE 28) to New York, rated "Paid", "4 1/2"d to border, and "25"c US converted to "1/3 1/2" being 25c PLUS 2.5% exchange surcharge, for total of 1/8 Cy prepaid. The second cover 1844 Hamilton (JAN 13) to New York rated in the same manner. The 2.5% exchange surcharge was a short lived post office fee between May 17, 1842 and Dec 27, 1843 to cover the cost of the border postmaster's expense of converting and remitting postal monies to their US crossborder postmasters. The Canadian postmaster Stayner issued a circular Dec 27 cancelling the 2.5% exchange surcharge so the postmaster would not be aware of the change, but most certainly by the time the second cover was sent. So the first cover was technically overcharged 1/2d for the small period of time it took t receive the notice, but the second one was most likely deliberate overcharging of postage. Ex Steinhart (Image)