Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries, Inc. Sale

Overton & Co. (Inter-City Express):

Lot

Lot Description

1401

Overton & Co., (6c) Black on Greenish (113L1). Three large margins, clear at bottom, ms. cancel, small faults, Fine appearance, scarce (Image)

190.00

1402

Overton & Co., (6c) Black on Greenish, "Free" below Circle (113L1 var). Huge margins with full "Free" but also showing rim of adjoining stamp at left, possibly a bottom right corner position, cancelled by red "Cd." handstamp associated with Pomeroy's, slight thins, Extremely Fine appearance, stamps showing the "Free" imprint are extremely rare (see lot 1404 for background), the "Cd." cancel is reported on two covers and two off-cover stamps, ex Patton (Image)

E. 300-400

1403

Overton & Co., (6c) Black on Greenish (113L1). Ample to large margins, uncancelled, used on undated folded cover to Elijah Fuller Jr. on Beaver Street in New York City, Overton & Co.'s black Boston oval and red New York oval handstamps, red crayon "2" local delivery rate and "64" street address location applied at New York, file folds, bottom refolded, Very Fine, only 20-25 Overton 113L1 covers are known to exist, the "3 Broad Street, New York" oval in red was used between July 1844 and early 1845 (source: Frajola, personal correspondence to David Golden) (Image)

E. 1,000-1,500

1404

Overton & Co., (6c) Black on Greenish, "Free" below Circle (113L1). Horizontal pair, both stamps show "Free" at bottom, huge margins all around, filing crease thru left stamp, pen lines thru each "Free" and tied by ms. "X" cancels on folded letter datelined New York City, Oct. 18, 1844, to Detroit, conjunctive usage with Wells' Letter Express from Buffalo to Detroit, overall even brown toning or soiling

VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THE ONLY RECORDED MULTIPLE OF THE OVERTON "FREE" VARIETY, ON OR OFF COVER. THE FINEST OF THE THREE RECORDED OVERTON MULTIPLES ON COVER (ALL PAIRS) AND ONE OF FOUR KNOWN COVERS WITH THE "FREE" VARIETY. AN OUTSTANDING 1844 INDEPENDENT MAIL USAGE.

Overton & Co. was a letter-and-package express and foreign-mail forwarding agency founded by Richard Carleton Overton prior to July 3, 1844 (the date of the earliest advertisement). Overton & Co. issued stamps for use on inter-city letters, these are recorded on covers from Aug. 1, 1844, through Jun. 30, 1845, the day before the independent mail carriers were forced out of business by the July 1845 postal laws. No Overton cover is recorded after June 30th.

The 113L1 stamps are known both with and without the "Free" imprint below the circle. In an article by Richard Schwartz (Penny Post, Oct. 1994), a sensible theory explaining the meaning of the Free imprint is set forth. According to Overton's advertisements, the stamps were sold singly at 6-1/4 cents each, or 20 stamps for a dollar (5c each). Therefore, the purchaser of a sheet of 20 stamps would essentially receive four free stamps. To make the point, the imprint "Free" was added below four positions in the sheet. The existence of a bottom left corner margin stamp without the "Free" rules out a sheet of five rows of four. However, if the sheet were four rows of five, the four last stamps in the sheet would have the "Free".

Our records contain only two off-cover "Free" stamps: 1) cancelled "Cd.", ex Patton, offered in lot 1402, and 2) cancelled "Cd.", ex Middendorf. We record another four "Free" stamps on separate covers: 1) Oct. 4, 1844, NYC to J. H. Austin, Buffalo, single stamp showing part of "Free" (clipped), tied by ms., large red "Paid", conjunctive use with Letter Express, ex Petrie, 2) Oct. 18, 1844, to R. H. Hall, Detroit Mich., pair with "Free" below both stamps, conjunctive usage with Letter Express, ex Chapman, Hollowbush, the cover offered here, 3) Feb. 8, 1845, single cancelled "Cd." on folded letter to local NYC address, City Mail oval, Mazza collection, and 4) date unknown, 1845 folded letter, stamp shows traces of "Free" at bottom (clipped), City Mail oval and "5" handstamp, ex Lilly. Looking at the record, there are really only two "Free" covers (the other two are mostly cut away) and of the two, only this cover has a pair, the largest known multiple of any Overton stamp.

The usage itself is rare. Only three covers with a pair of 113L1 are recorded, all from the Hall correspondence to Detroit. The other two pairs are cut into and their condition does not compare with the large-margined pair on this cover. In each case, Overton brought the letter to Albany and Wells' Letter Express carried it to Detroit -- Pomeroy was out of the letter-carrying business by this date -- and Wells took over the Albany-Buffalo route.

Ex Chapman and Hollowbush (erased cost code on back). (Image)

E. 5,000-7,500

1405

Overton & Co. Black Boston and red New York 3 Broad St. ovals clearly struck on Aug. 19, 1844 folded letter to New York City street address, pencil "Paid" and red crayon "2" for local delivery, file folds, Very Fine (Image)

E. 200-300

1406

Overton & Co.'s City Mail Office, 3 Broad Street. Red oval handstamp used in conjunction with Davenport & Co. Boston red oval and "5" handstamp on Jun. 16, 1845 folded letter from Boston to New York City street address, pencil "7" (5c express plus 2c local delivery charges), file folds, Very Fine and rare usage (Image)

E. 400-500

1407

Overton & Co.'s City Mail Office, 3 Broad Street. Red oval handstamp and ms. "2" rate on Jun. 3, 1845 folded letter to local New York City address, slight wear at edges and along file fold, Very Fine strike (Image)

E. 150-200

1408

Overton & Co.'s City Mail Office, 3 Broad Street. Red oval handstamp on two folded letters, one datelined Concord Mass. Feb. 26, 1845 with red "Paid", other datelined Boston Mar. 7, 1845 with black "Paid", missionary correspondence, file folds, Fine-Very Fine (Image)

E. 300-400

1409

Overton & Co. Stampless Covers. Five different, includes Sep. 1844 folded letter from New York City to Providence R.I. with Overton's red oval and black "Collect" straightline, one with red New York oval and "Col 6+2/8" ms. rate, another with red New York and black Boston oval combination and red crayon "2" rate, two others with City Mail ovals, Fine-Very Fine group

E. 400-500

Part III - Locals H-Z continued...