EXTREMELY FINE. A BEAUTIFUL AND RARE USE OF A PAIR OF THE 5-CENT NEW YORK POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL ON A COVER TO TRIESTE.
As usual for this correspondence, this cover was sent to James Lang in England and forwarded to Trieste outside the mails.
New York, N.Y., 5¢ Black, "ACM" Initials (9X1), Positions 4-5, horizontal pair, left stamp double transfer, large and even margins, tied by blue penstroke cancels (applied at New York City), red "Albany N.Y. Nov. 11" (1845) circular datestamp with matching "10" handstamp on folded letter to New York City, treated as unpaid by the postmaster in Albany (who never received a supply of stamps), the red "PAID" arc handstamp was applied by the postmaster in New York indicating acceptance of the stamps as prepayment, Very Fine, covers with the New York postmaster's provisional originating at other post offices are rare--only three are recorded from Albany, including one in the Peltz collection at the Albany Institute of History and Art--ex Emerson, Klep, Krug, Grunin and Weill Brothers sale, USPCS census no. 20387, illustrated in the 1936 American Philatelist Macguffin article, signed by Ashbrook, with 1989 P.F. certificate
New York, N.Y., 5¢ Black, "ACM" Initials (9X1), Position 19, large margins including part of adjoining stamp at left, tied by large "New-York 5 Paid Jun. 15" (1846) integral-rate circular datestamp on blue folded letter to Lyon, France, duplicate of June 8 letter with second June 15 dateline, sender's ship-name directive "p Str. Hibernia"--carried on that Cunarder, departing from Boston on June 16, 1846, and arriving at Liverpool June 28--red "COLONIES/&c ART. 13" Anglo-French accountancy handstamp, red London (June 29) backstamp, Boulogne (July 1), Paris (July 1) and Lyon (July 2) circular datestamps on front and back, manuscript "25" decimes due marking (10 decimes for Great Britain, 15 decimes French internal postage), Extremely Fine and attractive foreign-mail use of the New York provisional, ex Caspary and Grunin, USPCS census no. 20577, with 1992 P.F. certificate
New York, N.Y., 5¢ Black, "ACM" Initials (9X1), full margins to clear, tied by blue penstroke cancels, red "New-York 5 Paid Sep. 15" (1845) integral-rate circular datestamp on folded letter to Lyon, France, sender's ship-name directive "Str. Caledonia"--carried on that Cunarder, departing Boston on September 16, 1845, and arriving at Liverpool on September 28--bold strike of red "COLONIES/&c ART. 12" Anglo-French accountancy handstamp, red London (Sep. 29) backstamp, red Boulogne (Oct. 1) arrival datestamp, Lyon receiving backstamp, manuscript "25" decimes due marking (10 decimes for Great Britain, 15 decimes French internal postage), small cover tear at top center away from stamp, Very Fine and rare use of the New York postmaster's provisional on a cover to France--the Anglo-French Article 12 accountancy marking on this cover was only in use for six months while the New York provisional was current--ex Gallagher, USPCS census no. 20353