California Mails and Western Expresses, Carriers, Locals and Independent Mails continued...

EXTREMELY FINE. ONLY SEVEN COVERS BEARING THE FRAZER & COMPANY EAGLE STAMP ON GREEN ARE REPORTED. THIS EXAMPLE ON A LOVE LETTER IS RATHER EXTRAORDINARY.

Robert B. Meyersburg reported six covers with Frazer & Co.'s Green stamp (Penny Post, Aug. 1992), including three local usages and three covers delivered to the post office (postage unpaid). This recently-discovered cover becomes the seventh known.

With 2005 P.F. certificate (Image)

VERY FINE. THE ONLY TIED EXAMPLE AMONG THE SEVEN RECORDED COVERS BEARING THE HAMPTON 77L1 STAMP. ONE OF THE MOST OUTSTANDING OF THE PHILADELPHIA LOCALS.

Very little information about the T. A. Hampton post is known. Different students have located the same 1852-53 city directory listing for Thomas A. Hampton, a printer located at Marshall and 5th, but nothing earlier. In his CCP article on Philadelphia locals (Nov.-Dec. 1994), Calvet M. Hahn attached special significance to the fact that tobacconists named Gilbert Harris and Benjamin Hampton occupied the same address at 11 North 10th Street during the relevant years. Although the first names do not match the local-post proprietors' names, Hahn believed that a family connection might exist that would link the two local posts. Steven M. Roth also noted the possibility of an association, based on the sequence of dated covers (Penny Post, Oct. 1993). Given the similarity of the stamps and the association of names and addresses, another possibility is that the Despatch Post was neither Harris's nor Hampton's individually, but that they were partners -- the stamps with each partner's name could have been a convenient accounting method. Nothing is impossible, given the paucity of documentation.

Roth records five genuine 77L1 covers. Hahn recorded seven, but he cast doubt on three of them (as well as all 77L2's) because they are used in August 1848 and September-November 1849, which he considered to be too late for this post. Other researchers are less inclined to dismiss such a significant group of artifacts without additional information. The eight reported examples of 77L1, all cut to shape, including seven covers and one stamp added to a cover, are listed here in chronological order: 1) Aug. 7, 1847 (content), to P. H. Purviance, Auditor General, Harrisburg Pa., John A. Fox sale, Sep. 8, 1978, 2) Aug. 23, 1847, tied by Philadelphia datestamp on folded letter from unidentified origin to Friendsville Pa., ex Ackerman, Gibson, Boker, Golden, the cover offered here, 3) Oct. 5, 1847, to Daniel Blade, Easton Pa., ex Gibson, Golden, 4) Mar. 21, 1848, stamp cut in at bottom, no other details known, ex Worthington, 5) Aug. 22, 1849, stamp repaired at bottom, to Tho. Woolman, Burlington N.J., Siegel Sale Apr. 1, 1965, 6) Sep. 25, 1849 (content), embossed cover to Benjaline French "Present", Sloane's records, and 7) Nov. 22, 1849 (content), embossed cover to Miss Benjaline French, 390 N. 7th St., ex Boker, Golden, and 8) no date, stamp added to cover with Philadelphia "Ship" and "12" handstamps, ex Caspary, Middendorf.

This cover is of the greatest significance as it is the only known tied example of any of the Hampton stamps. It is also the only stamp known with the small colorless "X" impressed below "Paid", which has never been previously noted.

Signed Robson Lowe. Ex Ackerman, Gibson, Boker and Golden. With 1999 P.F. certificate (Image)