FINE APPEARANCE. AN EXTREMELY RARE COVER WITH THE HOPEDALE PENNY POST STAMP AND PRINTED CORNER CARD, CONTAINING A LETTER FROM ONE OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS OF THIS RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY. ONLY NINE COVERS BEARING THE 84L1 STAMP ARE RECORDED.
The Hopedale religious community established its Penny Post in 1849, so that mail could be brought to the nearest post office at Milford on a regular basis -- it is similar in concept to the Glen Haven post -- this was not an illegal service designed to circumvent government mails, but was a supplemental post in the absence of a community post office. The small stamps used to prepay the local charge were never cancelled and usually affixed on back or in the corner opposite the stamp. In a Penny Post article, Eric Karell documented 16 Hopedale Penny Post covers, including nine with the 84L1 stamp. Only three of the 16 covers have the Hopedale Community corner card. In the original letter accompanying this cover, the writer, W. Heywood, discusses the reasons for printing "500 envelopes" with the Hopedale Community advertisement.
FINE APPEARANCE. AN EXTREMELY RARE COVER WITH THE HOPEDALE PENNY POST STAMP AND PRINTED CORNER CARD, CONTAINING A LETTER FROM ONE OF THE ORIGINAL FOUNDERS OF THIS RELIGIOUS COMMUNITY. ONLY NINE COVERS BEARING THE 84L1 STAMP ARE RECORDED.
The Hopedale religious community established its Penny Post in 1849, so that mail could be brought to the nearest post office at Milford on a regular basis -- it is similar in concept to the Glen Haven post -- this was not an illegal service designed to circumvent government mails, but was a supplemental post in the absence of a community post office. The small stamps used to prepay the local charge were never cancelled and usually affixed on back or in the corner opposite the stamp. In a recent Penny Post article, Eric Karell documented 16 Hopedale Penny Post covers, including nine with the 84L1 stamp. Only three of the 16 covers have the Hopedale Community corner card. In the original letter accompanying this cover, the writer, W. Heywood, discusses the reasons for printing "500 envelopes" with the Hopedale Community advertisement.
VERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE AND TRULY REMARKABLE TIED EXAMPLE OF THE HOPEDALE PENNY POST STAMP, WHICH WAS USUALLY LEFT UNCANCELLED. VERY FEW TIED USAGES ARE KNOWN.
The Hopedale religious community established its Penny Post in 1849, so that mail could be brought to the nearest post office at Milford on a regular basis -- it is similar in concept to the Glen Haven post -- this was not an illegal service designed to circumvent government mails, but was a supplemental post in the absence of a community post office. The small stamps used to prepay the local charge were never cancelled and usually affixed on back or in the corner opposite the stamp. In rare instances the local stamp was positioned near the 3c postage and was tied by the town postmark. A survey of auction catalogues and our photo files turned up only three tied usages (but no other 84L1).