The Benjamon Franklin Bailar Collection: A Postal Historical Study of America's First Postmaster Gen continued...

VERY FINE. A BEAUTIFUL AND RARE COMBINATION USE OF THE 5-CENT AND 10-CENT 1847 ISSUE ON A DOMESTIC COVER PAYING TRIPLE 5-CENT UNDER-300 MILES RATE FOR A LETTER WEIGHING BETWEEN ONE AND ONE-AND-A-HALF OUNCES. VERY FEW ARE KNOWN, AND THIS IS THE ONLY ONE KNOWN FROM NEW YORK.

The Post Office Reform Act of 1845 greatly simplified the rate structure for sending mail. It provided for a 5c rate per half ounce for distances under 300 miles, with an increase of 5c for each additional half ounce or portion thereof.

A clause included in the Act of March 3, 1849 (30th Congress, Session II, Ch. 104) modified the postage on a letter weighing more than one ounce to bring U.S. domestic rate progression in line with the 1848 U.S.-Great Britain postal treaty, which had gone into effect on February 15, 1849. The relevant clause reads:

"That the better to enable the postal treaty with Great Britain to go Into full effect with equal advantage to both countries, letters shall be mailed as composing one rate only where the letter does not exceed the weight of a half ounce avoirdupois; where it exceeds a half ounce, but does not exceed an ounce, as composing two rates; where it exceeds an ounce, but does not exceed two ounces, as composing four rates..."

This change eliminated the the 15c rate for a letter weighing between one and one-and-a-half ounces. Letters weighing between one and two ounces would be charged four-times the single rate (20c for distances under 300 miles). The elimination of the triple rate went into effect with the Postmaster General's notice on March 15, 1849. Therefore, the use of 1847 Issue stamps to prepay the 15c triple rate for a letter sent under 300 miles was allowed for approximately 20 months. Fewer than 20 combination covers with the 5c and 10c paying the triple rate are recorded. This is the only one used from New York listed in the census at the U.S. Classics Society website.

This cover was sent to Millard Fillmore during his term as New York State Comptroller in 1848, the year he was elected Vice President on Zachary Taylor's Whig Party ticket. After Taylor's death in 1850, Fillmore assumed the presidency.

With 1996 P.F. certificate (Image)

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A FINE AND EXTREMELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE 5-CENT 1847 ISSUE USED ON THE DISTINCTIVE VERMONT & BOSTON TELEGRAPH LINE ILLUSTRATED ENVELOPE.

This well-known telegraph company design illustrates ships, a train, post rider, postman and turtle, above which is a telegraphic lightning bolt connected to a hand and quill, the obvious implication being that the telegraph beats all other forms of communication.

The better-known example of this envelope with the 1847 Issue is the cover sold in our auction of the Leonard Kapiloff collection (Sale 742, lot 90, realized $13,000 hammer). Both covers are addressed to Miss Sophia H. Ring at Springfield, Massachusetts. The ex-Kapiloff cover is postmarked at Middlebury, Vermont (Dec. 18), and the 5c stamp is tied by criss-crossed blue grids. It is not known why this previously unrecorded cover was not also postmarked at Middlebury, but the use of pencil to cancel (and tie) the 5c stamp suggests it may have been carried outside the mails (by express) or by railroad.

With 2007 P.F. certificate noting the stamp originated on this cover but declining opinion with respect to the pencil cancel or whether this passed through the mails (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. A MARVELOUS 1847 ISSUE COVER WITH AN INTERESTING COMBINATION OF MAIL SERVICE MARKINGS.

Ex Crowe and Kapiloff. With 1977 P.F. certificate (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. A COLORFUL AND EXCEEDINGLY RARE COMBINATION OF THE 5-CENT 1847 ISSUE AND SWARTS' CITY DISPATCH STAMP ON GREEN GLAZED PAPER. ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL 1847 ISSUE AND LOCAL POST COMBINATION COVERS WE HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED.

Aaron Swarts was employed by the Post Office Department at Chatham Square in 1845 and 1846. On January 5, 1847, the Chatham Square branch was discontinued, leaving area residents and businesses without a convenient nearby post office. Swarts saw his opportunity and on January 15 announced the opening of his local post at 6 Chatham Square, advertising it as the Branch Post Office, although there was no official connection at all to the government post office. Swarts' City Dispatch Post was one of the most successful of the many private posts in New York City in the 1840's and 1850's. (source: Perry, The Chatham Square Post Office).

No later than January 15, 1849, Swarts bought another major local post operated by John Bouton. The exact date of the buyout is unknown, but there is one cover dated January 15, 1849, with Swarts' "Paid" cancel applied to Bouton's stamp (ex Hall, Siegel Sale 830, lot 762), followed by another dated January 29, 1849, with the "Swarts" overprint on Bouton's stamp (Hall sale, lot 763). Therefore, the change in ownership certainly occurred days, if not weeks, prior to January 15, 1849.

After using up the Swarts-overprinted Bouton stamps between January and April 1849, Swarts adopted the Zachary Taylor "Rough and Ready" design used by Bouton, which was originally inspired by Taylor's successful 1848 presidential campaign. The early impressions from Swarts' first lithographic stone (Stone 1) are very sharp, as this example demonstrates. Later Stone 1 printings are less clear, and Stone 2 printings can be differentiated from Stone 1 by the presence of the "horn" (line of color) to the left of Taylor's forehead. The first printing was made from Stone 1 in Black on Green surface-coated paper (136L1) and in Black on Bluish Gray paper without surface coating (136L7). Covers with either 136L1 or 136L7 are scarce, and only some of them can be reliably year-dated (in particular, covers from the Pierpont Mallory & Co. correspondence). The early Bluish Gray 136L7 covers are clustered between July 23 and August 30, 1849. One Green 136L1 is known tied on a folded letter dated May 16 (ex Hall, Siegel Sale 830, lot 766), but there is no year date; it is more likely 1849 than 1850, based on the stamp's sharp early impression and Swarts markings. Three Green 136L1 and 5c 1847 combination covers are dated June 8 (1849 folded letter), June 12 (1849 folded letter) and again on June 12 (the cover offered here, without year-dated content). These are followed by a September 25, 1849, year-dated letter with 136L1 and a few later or undated uses. It is likely that the earliest printing from Stone 1 was made on Green surface-coated paper, represented by the stamps on the May/June 1849 covers.

Two of the 136L1 and 1847 combination covers are addressed to Sarah Platt in New London, Connecticut. Ashbrook, in his Special Service, claimed that the June 8 cover to Platt had stamps that did not originate, but he was unaware of the June 12 cover to Platt (ex Baker). All three of the 136L1 and 1847 combination covers were written up by Jerome S. Wagshal (Chronicle 169, February 1996), who corrected the misidentification of the Swarts stamps (accurately identifying them as 136L1, Stone 1) and raised doubt about Ashbrook's analysis.

Ex Emerson (Kelleher sale, Oct. 19, 1937, realized $345), Brigham and Kuphal. With 2007 P.F. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE 5-CENT 1847 ISSUE ON A COVER ORIGINATING IN CANADA.

The U.S. stamps were affixed to the cover in Canada and paid the rate from the border to New York. Canadian postage "to the lines" was paid in cash.

Ex Rust. With 1987 P.F. certificate (Image)

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