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Postal History continued...

United States continued...
LotNo. Symbol Cat No. Lot Description
361 cover   image1856 (January 14), transatlantic forwarded cover from Rome, New
York, to Cairo, Egypt, with Congressional deadlock, slavery
politics and Egyptian travel contents, bearing Rome, N.Y. (14 Jan)
datestamp and matching “PAID / 24” handstamp for the prepaid United
States to Great Britain treaty rate, endorsed via Boston and
backstamped Boston Br. Pkt. (16 Jan), addressed to Henry S.
Huntington care of Baring Brothers & Co., London, with red London
Paid and “PAID / AI / 28 JA 28 / 1856” datestamps, redirected
through the firm’s oval “FORWARDED BY BARING BROTHERS & CO. /
LONDON” handstamp to Messrs. Tod Rathbone & Co., Cairo, the
original “Via Marseilles” routing crossed out and replaced by
“Southampton,” an attractive redirected letter. The enclosed
four-page letter, datelined Rome, New York, January 12, 1856,
begins with an account of exceptionally severe winter of
temperatures reaching 16 degrees below zero, heavy snow and
disrupted transportation. The writer then describes the prolonged
struggle to elect a Speaker during the opening of the 34th
Congress: “Politically the Country is in a perfect state of
disorganized confusion. Congress has been in Session since the
first of December & as yet the House of Representatives have not
been able to organize by the election of a Speaker so that no
business has been done.” Turning to the sectional crisis, he
criticizes President Franklin Pierce, writing that “he talks like a
fool on the Slavery question with a view to catch Southern votes.”
The letter also comments on Huntington’s travels through the
eastern Mediterranean and conveys the contemporary fascination with
Egypt, about which he writes “There is no land that the sun shines
upon that I have had a greater desire to see”, while cautioning him
against exposing himself to cholera merely to complete the journey. (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5) (Image 6)

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Currently...C$100.00
Will close during Public Auction
362 cover   image1857 (January 5), first eastbound Interim Period rate voyage from
Boston to Cognac, France, stampless folded letter prepaid 5c cash
for the U.S. inland portion of the British Open Mail rate, struck
with red BOSTON / BR. PKT. / PAID c.d.s. and manuscript 5 at top
centre, carried by the Cunard steamer Europa, departing New York on
January 7 and arriving Liverpool January 19, with black boxed G B /
1f 60c accountancy marking applied in London, Paris entry marking
(20 Jan) and 8 décimes due in France, the reverse with Cognac
receiver (21 Jan), an important transitional usage from the very
first eastbound voyage under the new Interim Period rates. The
enclosed letter from J.D. & M. Williams of Boston to James Hennessy
& Co. discusses a substantial brandy shipment involving the brig
Robert Wing and the remittance of a sixty-day bill exceeding 42,000
francs. (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4)

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Currently...C$60.00
Will close during Public Auction
363 cover   image1857 (January 21), first-month Interim Period folded letter from
New York to Cognac, France, stampless folded letter prepaid 5c cash
for the U.S. inland portion of the British Open Mail rate, struck
by red NEW-YORK / PAID c.d.s. and with manuscript "5", carried by
the Cunard steamer Asia, departing New York January 21 and arriving
Liverpool February 2, with black boxed G B / 1f 60c accountancy
marking, Calais entry marking (4 Feb) and 8 (décimes) due in
France, the reverse with London, Paris, Bordeaux and Cognac transit
and arrival markings, the latter dated (5 Feb), a desirable
first-month usage from the brief 1857 Interim Period. (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5)

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Currently...C$60.00
Will close during Public Auction
364 cover   image1857 (January 31), interim period stampless folded letter from
Savannah, Georgia, to Bordeaux, France, carried by the Persiaduring
the first month of the transatlantic Interim Period, prepaid 5c
cash at Savannah for the U.S. inland portion, indicated by red PAID
handstamp and circled 5, forwarded through New York and carried by
the Cunard steamer Persia, departing February 4 and arriving
Liverpool on February 14, with black boxed G B / 1f 60c accountancy
marking applied in London for the British share of the Atlantic
transit, struck on entry into France with Calais duty marking and
rated 8 décimes due from the recipient, the reverse with London,
Paris and Bordeaux transit/arrival markings (16 Feb); small piece
of archival tape on reverse, otherwise fine-very fine. The cover
illustrates the “treaty mismatch” that defined the three-month
Interim Period of early 1857, during which time transatlantic mail
between the United States and France was regulated by the older
1856 Anglo-French Postal Convention rather than the direct 1857
U.S.–France Postal Treaty that took effect on April 1, 1857. The
enclosed letter, written in German script by Weber Bros. of
Savannah, discusses commercial timber shipments of planks and logs
involving the brig Ann Dunning and refers to agents in Havre. (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5)

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Currently...C$120.00
Will close during Public Auction
365 cover   image1857 (September 1), late British Open Mail usage from Newark
Valley, New York, to Lausanne, Switzerland, with contents
describing the Panic of 1857, stampless folded letter prepaid 5c
cash for the U.S. inland portion of the British Open Mail rate,
indicated by red 5 and PAID handstamps, forwarded through New York
and carried by the Cunard steamer Arabia, departing September 2 and
arriving Liverpool September 13, with black boxed G B / 1f 60c
accountancy marking applied in transit, forwarded via London and
Paris and charged 95 rappen on arrival at Lausanne, the reverse
with London (14 Sep), Paris (15 Sep) and Lausanne transit/arrival
markings; a particularly late and unusual use of the old Open Mail
routing after implementation of the U.S.-French Postal Convention.
The enclosed letter describes the Panic of 1857, referring to the
“crisis in the big cities,” the collapse of railroad stocks apart
from the Illinois Central, and blaming the downturn on “excessive
importation of luxury goods for women” and “furious speculation.” (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3)

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Get Market Data for [United States Collection] View Visual Pricing Guide Make Sample Census



Currently...C$80.00
Will close during Public Auction
366 cover   image1857 (November 25), transatlantic cover & contents from Portland,
Maine, to American diplomat and historian George Folsom at The
Hague, bearing Portland (25 Nov) datestamp with integral “10”
crossed out and replaced by manuscript “5,” straight-line “PAID”
and “Steamer of 25th fr Boston” endorsement, reverse with London (4
Dec) transit and red “NEDERLAND TE OSTENDE” marking, surface wear
and light red transit-ink offsetting, letter somewhat aged but
complete and contents legible. George Folsom (1802–1869), formerly
United States Chargé d’Affaires to the Netherlands, was an
historian, antiquarian and translator noted for his work with Dutch
colonial records relating to early New York. The family letter
enquires particularly after Edward, hoping that he is “steady &
studious, and making due progress in a course of College Studies,”
while observing that he must eventually “apply himself” to a useful
profession; it also reports on family health and, despite the Panic
of 1857, notes that “Mr. Palmer is delighted, and says his business
is very satisfactory.” (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4)

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Currently...C$50.00
Will close during Public Auction
367 cover   image1859 (May 24), Vigo packet cover from Watertown, Massachusetts, to
Paris via London, with Second Italian War content, enclosing a
four-page letter from Seth Bemis to George Bemis, care of Baring
Brothers & Co., London, and redirected in manuscript to Paris,
prepaid at 24c, bearing Boston Am. Pkt. (27 May) datestamp, boxed
“PAID,” large red “3” credit handstamp, London Paid transit,
Lombard Street Paid (10 Jun) datestamp and red “PD,” reverse with
Paris (11 Jun) receiver, edge staining and several small faults
reinforced on reverse, the lettersheet fresh and otherwise fine.
Written during the opening weeks of the Second Italian War of
Independence, the letter reports that George had been “meeting
Chas. Sumner and travelling with him from Naples to Rome, also
taking various excursions with him around Naples,” while Seth
expresses relief that, “from the prospect of war, no doubt you have
left Rome and arrived safe I hope in Paris, or even in London.” He
also mentions reports of a record New York passage by the steamship
Vanderbilt and discusses family partnerships, accounts and
investments, including the observation that “your California case
is now progressing much.” (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5) (Image 6)

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Currently...C$50.00
Will close during Public Auction
368 cover   image1861 (October 31), stampless letter from Tennessee, describing
wartime enlistment, epidemic disease and rising prices, from Spring
Place to Watkinsville, Georgia, folded letter, rated with
manuscript “Paid 5” at upper left indicating prepayment of the
Confederate domestic letter rate, with clear manuscript “Spring
Place Te Oct 31/61” origin notation, enclosing a three-page letter,
the cover faulty, but fascinating Civil War era contents, written
only months after Tennessee joined the Confederacy. The sender,
L.M. Houghton, gives an account of the hardships of war, disease
and economic turmoil, describing a severe “epidemic” of measles
that had killed “three or four in a family,” and recounts treating
members of his own household with “red pepper poultice” and “sage
honey.” He also notes that Marshall County had sent a full regiment
to the war, writing that “all my boys... have gone” and that “my
neighbours have all gone," concluding by citing sharply rising
prices for salt, coffee and bacon and observing that “money hard to
get tax high.” (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4)

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Currently...C$60.00
Will close during Public Auction
369 cover   image1861 (December 21), Civil War "Contraban" patriotic cover from
Geigers Mills, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia, illustrated pro-Union
envelope with masthead “Dis Chile’s CONTRABAN’”, showing enslaved
people fleeing a plantation toward Fort Monroe while an overseer
looks on, franked with 3c rose, tied by three manuscript pen
strokes, with matching manuscript “Geigers Mills Dec 21” postmark
below, addressed to William W. Harding, Esq., publisher of the
Philadelphia Inquirer, opening tears on reverse, with some soiling
and light toning, otherwise a striking and scarce Civil War
patriotic usage. The design reflects the Union policy following
Major General Benjamin Butler’s May 1861 decision at Fort Monroe to
refuse the return of enslaved people who had escaped to Union
lines, treating them instead as “contraband of war” when their
labour had supported the Confederate war effort. Fort Monroe
consequently became known as “Freedom’s Fortress,” drawing
thousands of freedom seekers before the Emancipation Proclamation. (Image 1)



Currently...C$250.00
Will close during Public Auction
370 cover   image1863/1866, Harnden Express group comprising cover and two
illustrated receipts, the cover dated February 7, 1863, from
Washington, D.C., to Detroit, Michigan, bearing a very fine
orange-vermilion FORWARDED BY HARNDEN EXPRESS FROM WASHINGTON, D.C.
adhesive label measuring 42 × 29mm, the reverse secured by nine
intact red wax seals, accompanied by two illustrated Harnden
Express receipts, one from New York in 1864 on white paper and
another from 1866 printed in red for a package containing $467.00,
both with the distinctive Harnden Express globe vignette; light age
toning and horizontal filing folds to receipts, an appealing trio.
Founded by William F. Harnden in 1839, Harnden Express was the
first major express company in the United States and remained an
important carrier of money, documents and valuable packages during
the Civil War and immediate post-war years. (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4)

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Currently...C$80.00
Will close during Public Auction
371 cover   image1863 (December 27), Civil War soldier’s letter describing the
Chattanooga and Knoxville campaigns, from Nashville, Tennessee, to
McComb, Ohio, 3c George Washington postal stationery entire to Mrs.
L.B. Wright, cancelled by Nashville, Tenn. (27 Dec) double-circle
c.d.s., enclosing a lengthy four-page manuscript letter on embossed
stationery; light uniform toning and minor edge wear, otherwise
fine. Written by “Will” at Bridgeport, Alabama, on December 22,
1863, the letter gives a detailed account of recent Union army
movements, noting that “we have passed through one of the longest
and hardest campaigns we were ever engaged in,” that his unit had
taken part in the battles at Chattanooga and followed the
retreating Confederate forces, and that they subsequently marched
to the assistance of General Burnside at Knoxville before returning
to Bridgeport. He further remarks that “the young folks” were
marrying at an “alarming rate” and joking that local men were
afraid to wait until the “Soldier boys come home,” as the ladies
showed a “decided preference for Bluecoats.” (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5)

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Currently...C$50.00
Will close during Public Auction
372 cover   image1865, 3c rose Pacific Union Express Co. stamped envelope used
locally in San Francisco, 3c pink Nesbitt entire, indicium
cancelled in blue, with red "PAID / PACIFIC UNION EXPRESS CO."
printed frank and return instruction at left, addressed locally,
light general soiling, otherwise fine-very fine, a nice example of
Pacific Union Express mail, the firm founded in opposition to Wells
Fargo & Co. before being absorbed by its rival in 1869; with 1999
APEX certificate. (Sc. U58) (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3)

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Currently...C$50.00
Will close during Public Auction
373 cover   image1866 (October 11), double-rate folded letter from New Orleans to
Marseille with cotton-market and exchange contents, franked with
30c orange Jefferson tied by segmented cork with New Orleans (11
Oct) datestamp, red New York Paid transit and boxed “P.D.,” red
Etats-Unis Serv. Fr. (28 Oct) entry marking and Marseille (29 Oct)
receiver, with complete one-page commercial letter of A. Rochereau
& Co. concerning cotton consignments, a gold quotation, and draft
balances, light filing fold, clean and very fine. (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3)

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Currently...C$60.00
Will close during Public Auction
374 cover   image1868 (July 1), cross-border cover from Swanton, Vermont, to Brome
Corner, Quebec, with “30” cancellations on 3c F-grill pair, each
stamp cancelled by an circular 30 handstamp, with clear SWANTON /
VT. c.d.s. (1 Jul) and manuscript “Paid 6ct”, the reverse with
MONTREAL / C.E. transit (2 Jul) and SWEETSBURG / C.E. receiver (3
Jul), an unusual usage from the opening months of the 6c treaty
rate. In an accompanying analysis on letterhead of Charles
Nettleship, with notes by Mike Duckworth, the suggestion is made
that the cancellations represent obsolete stampless-era rate
handstamps repurposed at Swanton as obliterators on mail to Canada.
Their correspondence notes that, although adhesive franking was by
then required, stampless cross-border usages were still encountered
into 1868. (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4)

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Currently...C$120.00
Will close during Public Auction
375 cover   image1871, 1c green on manila American Post Card Co. forerunner postal
card essay, unused typographed essay on 130 × 77mm manila card,
with green Franklin design within decorative scrollwork border,
attributed by Charles A. Rowland to the American Post Card Company
and designed to be folded and sealed by top and side flaps, slight
overall toning common to this paper, with some small sealed tears,
otherwise a scarce and important precursor to the United States
postal card; ex Carol Huey. (USPCC S1E-Hb, Sc. UX1E). Produced two
years before the first United States government postal card of
1873, and based on patents granted to Charles A. Rowland in 1865
and 1871, the design was one of only three approved by the U.S.
Patent Office. (Image 1) (Image 2)

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Currently...C$80.00
Will close during Public Auction
376 cover   image1878 (circa), Charles K. Marshall 1c+1c paid-reply postal-card
essay, in red-orange on dull orange-yellow card measuring 131x76mm,
with two circular 1c designs, "UNITED STATES RETURN POSTAL CARD"
and vertical instructional inscriptions, overprinted "Unofficial
Sample" vertically in red, unused, "6" in ink at upper right, light
lower-right corner crease, otherwise very fine, a scarce example
from the second Marshall Essays, submitted as part of the call to
test various double-card message and reply formats prior to the
official adoption of United States paid reply postal cards. (UPSS
MR1E-Da). (Image 1) (Image 2)

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Currently...C$60.00
Will close during Public Auction
377 cover   image1883 (July 28), mining-era territorial cover from the short-lived
Purdy, Arizona Territory, post office, open from May 1 to October
11, 1883, franked with 3c Bank Note issue struck by segmented cork,
with rare oval “PURDY / GRAHAM Co, ARIZ” datestamp alongside,
believed to be the only recorded example of this cancellation,
light edge wear, fine-very fine. Purdy was established on the Gila
River as an ore-haulage and transportation point serving Clifton,
but its post office operated for only five months before railway
development shifted the settlement to the south bank and it was
renamed Duncan. (Image 1)



Currently...C$200.00
Will close during Public Auction
378 cover 210 image1887 (April 15), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Gloucester Iron Works
illustrated advertising cover to New York, franked with 2c brown
Bank Note issue, tied by black "PHILADELPHIA PA." single-circle
duplex cancellation, featuring an attractive orange GLOUCESTER IRON
WORKS design with an illustration of the manufacturing plant, "P.O.
NY" (15 Apr) single-circle receiver on reverse, trivially reduced
at right, a striking industrial-themed advertising cover. (Sc.
#210). (Image 1) (Image 2)

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Get Market Data for [United States 210] View Visual Pricing Guide Make Sample Census



Currently...C$40.00
Will close during Public Auction
379 cover   image1889-93, German immigrant family archivefrom Cullman, Alabama, to
Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, German-language correspondence from
the Küng/Lüthi family circle, comprising four multi-page letters
with original covers, two covers with Richter Brothers corner
cards, all showing clear CULLMAN / ALA. despatch c.d.s. and Swiss
arrival backstamps including Zurich (1889) and Basel (1892), the
usual filing folds and some light toning, but an interesting group
providing a glimpse of immigrant life in one of the principal
German-speaking settlements of the post-Civil War American South.
The correspondence is varied, touching on both personal and
business matters. The 1889 letter laments the death of “Dear
Johann” and reproaches the recipient for perceived “indifference,”
while a later letter from Anna Küng’s discusses the difficulties of
life in the German-speaking settlement, and includes an account of
the 1892 Cullman fire, which destroyed a substantial business
block. This is followed by an 1893 letter written during the
national financial crisis describing anxiety over a $100 business
loss and the difficulty of maintaining family ties across “vast
distances.” Founded in 1873 by Johann Gottfried Cullmann as a
destination for German-speaking immigrants, the colony developed
around agriculture, vineyards and small-scale industry rather than
the plantation economy dominant elsewhere in Alabama. (Image 1) (Image 2) (Image 3) (Image 4) (Image 5) (Image 6) (Image 7) (Image 8) (Image 9) (Image 10) (Image 11) (Image 12) (Image 13) (Image 14) (Image 15)

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Currently...C$120.00
Will close during Public Auction
380 cover   image1893 (October 24), 10c black brown Columbian postal stationery
entire to Switzerland, sent fro the Chicago World’s Fair, 10c
entire (Sc. U351) to Zurich, cancelled by World’s Fair Station
duplex (Bomar C93-02) with 4 F time slug, paying the double 5c per
½oz international letter rate, the reverse with Zurich arrival
backstamp, slight edge creasing and small paper remnant on back
flap, otherwise clean, sound and fine-very fine. The 10c Columbian
entire was among the scarcer denominations of the 1893 postal
stationery issue, the lower 1c and 2c values being far more
commonly used for local and souvenir correspondence, while the 10c
was intended chiefly for heavier foreign letters or registered
mail. The World’s Fair Station operated within the Government
Building on the grounds of the World’s Columbian Exposition. (Image 1) (Image 2)

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Currently...C$40.00
Will close during Public Auction

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