Postal History. 1819 (June 16). Entire letter from San Salvador de Bahia to a Captain at Toulon, France, and redirected inland to Uzès, contents describing the voyage from Malaga (Spain) to Brazil including the ceremony of crossing the Ecuador, charged "12", red "COLONIES/PAR LE HAVRE" two-line hs and reverse with "DÉB. 78/TOULON/SUR-MER", to our knowledge the only transatlantic mail from Brazil with a Deboursé postmark. (Image)

1827 (Nov 29). Entire letter from Montevideo to Coldstream, redirected to Edinburgh, sent by a naval officer on board HMS "Cadmus" in Uruguay during the Portuguese-Brazilian occupation, carried via Rio de Janeiro to Falmouth by the HMS "Osborne", with "BRAZIL/FE 24 1828/F" ds unusually applied in green and infrequently struck so clearly, originally charged "3/9" (2/7 packet plus 1/3 less 1d inland) uprated to '4/5' for 8d from Coldstream to Edinburgh. Interesting contents concerning a naval engagement in the River Plate: "A vessel unexpectedly fired a shot close to us, and by the time we got all sail in, and guns ready, two others. We accordingly gave her a dozen from one side, when she tried to escape, but we made sail after her, and when Captaincies Thompson hailed her, she fired two volleys of musketry. (...) Finding she could not escape, she fired a gun and surrendered. I went on board and found her to be a privateer called General Dorrego". (Image)

1854 (Oct)-1855 (Nov). Two entire letters to Port showing "COMPANHIA DE PAQUETES A VAPOR/LUSO BRASILEIRA" oval hs in blue from Rio de Janeiro and Bahia, both carried by "D. Maria 2a", 80 and 160 reis charges, a scarce and very fine duo. (Image)

1856 (Oct 28). Entire letter from Rio de Janeiro to Porto, placed on board the French "Barcelone" on its first and unique voyage to Brazil, with faint strike of "COMPAGNIE FRANCO-AMERICAINE/AGENCE DE BAHIA" double circle in blue, charged with "120" reis, bs on receipt, less than ten letters are recorded with this navigation-company hs. (Image)

1870 (Aug 30). Entire letter from Ceará to Paris, on the private ship "Maranhense" to Liverpool, "LIVERPOOL/SHIP" and London Ship Letter ds's on back, charged with ms 2d on back and "10" due mark in Calais on front; as the Siege of Paris had begun on Sept. 19, the letter was redressed to London, the "10" was consequently deleted and replaced by "BRITISH/FOREIGN" indicating "2" & "10" in ms and delivered on Oct. 20, a very scarce usage. (Image)

Stampless Maritime Mail balance collection. 1813-81, mounted on exhibition pages and comprising over 100 covers mainly sent to France, Great Britain and Portugal, good ranges of usages including British P.O. postmarks, the sole voyage of the "Lady Eglinton", "Ship Letter" markings, consular mail, private-ship carriages, a very interesting 1817 early usage with "Maranhao" oval hs, three covers with unusual "Cor° Maritimo" straight-line applied in Portugal on arrival on mail without postmarks delivered by hand, etc, in addition one franked cover with G.B. 3d strip of four from the British P.O. at Rio; fine-very fine, viewing essential.

A RARITY OF FRENCH MARITIME MAIL 1860 (Sept 30) Entire letter from Bahia to Porto, bearing "BRÉSIL/2-2" octagonal date stamp (Salles fig. 1.055, "RR-pièce d'amateur") used at Bahia, charged with quadruple 600 Portuguese tax, bs including "Brésil/Guienne", Lisbon transatlantic entry and arrival, the finest example of only four or five recorded. Provenance: Paulo R. Comelli (Image)