1853 1p Red Brown on Deeply Blued Wove Paper, Imperforate An appealing used horizontal pair in selected quality, surrounded by full to mostly oversized margins for this typically narrow-spaced stamp, fabulous colour on pristine paper, light oval mute grids, VF; 2014 Greene Foundation cert.
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Cat. Value 1400 $

1855 (January 2) Folded wrapper mailed from Amherst to Liverpool, England, franked with two singles and a diagonal bisect of the 3 pence dark blue, paying the 7½ pence rate (via Halifax) in effect from August 1st, 1854; bisect touched by file fold as do almost all covers from the Ratchford correspondence, nevertheless all stamps with full margins (quite unusual) and well tied by oval mute grids; clear Amherst JA 2 1855 dispatch, oval (Halifax) JA 4 transit backstamps, showing a complete Tombstone Packet Letter Liverpool Paid 17 JA 1855 arrival postmark in red on front. An appealing and remarkably fresh cover, F-VF (Unitrade cat. $6,000)

Expertization: 1997 Greene Foundation certificate

This cover is unrecorded in the extensive Arfken & Firby census. It is the SECOND EARLIEST KNOWN USAGE of this rate to England.
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Estimate 2500 $

1859 (October 1) Orange envelope from Pugwash to River John bearing a diagonally bisected Six pence dark green, paying the 3 pence domestic letter rate; bisect with large margins on both sides and ideally tied by an oval mute grid; slight edge wear to envelope with portion of backflap missing, shows very clear double arc dispatch datestamp of Pugwash; backstamped by famous BNA collector W.H. Brouse during the 1920s. A rare Six pence dark green bisect cover and according to Arfken & Firby census (this cover is unlisted) ranking among the earliest known as most that do exist are dated in the first half of 1860, F-VF; 2011 Greene Foundation cert. (Unitrade cat. $7,000)

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Estimate 2500 $