9th Floor
New York, NY 10036
294 Selected Lots, Page 1 of 30
General/Issue
Date
2c Brown (113). Wide and balanced margins, tied by blue "Cincinnati O. Mar. 26" circular datestamp and target duplex on orange-buff cover to Leitersburg Md. with "R.A. Holden & Co. Wholesale Dealers in Feathers, Ginseng and Beeswax" corner card, tiny cover tear at top not mentioned on certificate, Extremely Fine stamp and cover and unusual beeswax advertisement, with 2011 P.F. certificate
2c Brown, 3c Ultramarine (113, 114). 2c straight edge, used with 3c pair and 30c Orange, F. Grill (100), tied by quartered cork cancels and "San Francisco Cal. May 10" (1869) duplex datestamp on buff cover to Stockholm, Sweden, red "8" credit handstamp and matching New York transit backstamp, red "Verviers-Franco-Coeln" transit datestamp, receiving backstamps, blue crayon "f3" (sgr) Prussian Mail rate marking, cover repaired at bottom, otherwise Fine, extremely rare mixed-issue franking for double 19c Prussian Closed Mail rate to Sweden, on May 10, 1869, the day this was postmarked at San Francisco, the tracks of the Union Pacific joined those of the Central Pacific Railroad at Promontory, Utah, this cover was probably transported east on the newly completed transcontinental railroad, ex Mack
2c Brown (113). Tied by quartered cork on Mason & Co. Philadelphia stamp and coin dealer's advertising cover to Ithaca N.Y., small repaired nick at top left, otherwise Fine, scarce use of 1869 Issue on early stamp dealer's advertising cover, Ebenezer Locke Mason was one of Philadelphia's founding stamp dealers and an early rival of J. W. Scott, he published Mason's Coin and Stamp Collector's Magazine, which was noted for attacks on rival dealers, ex Mack, illustrated in Rose 1869 book (p. 26)
2c Brown (113). Horizontal pair, scissor-separated at left, cancelled by two partly clear strikes of "Paid" straightline, "South Berwick Me." circular datestamp on illustrated "King of the Earlies, The 'Fifty Dollar' Potato" cover to Milton Mills N.H., cover with light creasing and couple corner nicks, otherwise Very Fine, a striking Spud design and scarce with the 2c 1869 Issue pair, with 2009 P.F. certificate
2¢ 1869 and 10¢ E Grill on cover to Peru2¢ Brown (113), horizontal pair, used with pair and single 10¢ Green, E. Grill (89), tied by cork cancels, backstamped at Bath, Maine (April 27), right 10¢ tied by red "New York 12 May 5" (1870) 12¢ credit datestamp on cover to Callao, Peru, Callao receiving backstamp, right 10¢ with couple short perfs and small pre-use paper fold, still fresh and Very Fine, stamped for the 34¢ rate via American and British Packets, but the rate had been reduced to 22¢ in March 1870 (12¢ credit confirms 22¢ rate)
This cover from Nagasaki, Japan, to Shanghai, China, is the earliest recorded example of the 6¢ interconsular rate and one of two such covers bearing the 2¢ 1869 Pictorial Issue2¢ Brown (113), horizontal pair and single, each with horizontally split grills, on cover originating in Nagasaki, Japan, and addressed in French to Shanghai, China, stamps tied on arrival by quartered cork cancels of Shanghai, docketed with Nagasaki May 12, 1870, origin from Pignatel & Co. (one of the largest of the Western trading firms at the time), sender's manuscript steamer directive "Per Costa Rica"
Fine overall condition; one stamp in pair creased before use, minor separations and wear along folds, two tape stains at sides have been expertly removed, small ink notation at bottom left also expertly removed.
Very few interconsular covers originating in Nagasaki are recorded, and all but one bearing 1869 Pictorial Issue stamps were prepaid 6¢ for the rate from Japan to Shanghai, China. This cover is the earliest recorded example of the reduced 6¢ interconsular rate and one of only two known covers with this rate paid by the 2¢ 1869 Pictorial Issue. It is a wonderful artifact of U.S. postal services between Japan and China.
During this period, consular mails were carried by Pacific Mail Steam Ship Co. branch-line steamers from Shanghai, China, to Yokohama, Japan, with intermediate stops at Nagasaki and Hiogo, Japan (and the reverse). The entire trip took approximately eight days. This cover was carried on a westbound PMSS branch-line steamer that originated in Yokohama and stopped at Nagasaki on its journey to Shanghai. The table of PMSS Co. branch-line trips in the Frajola-Perlman-Scamp book is, by the authors' own admission, based on incomplete records. A sailing of the Costa Rica (or any other branch-line ship) corresponding to the May 12, 1870 Nagasaki docketing is not listed. The likely reason for the stamps being cancelled in Shanghai instead of Nagasaki is the cover was posted too late to be included in the bagged mail from Nagasaki, or was posted directly to the ship purser.
Illustrated in Rose, United States Postage Stamps of 1869 (p. 34) and Frajola-Perlman-Scamp, U.S. Post Offices in China and Japan (p. 188). Ex Ryohei Ishikawa, Jonathan W. Rose and Edgar Kuphal ("European's Large Gold" collection).
2c Brown (113). Used with six 10c Brown (161) and tied by New York Foreign Mail Geometric cancel (Weiss GE-EN3), right stamps also tied by blurry strike of red "New York Paid All" circular datestamp on 1874 cover from Cuba to Barcelona, Spain, via the United States, cover also bears four Cuba 25c Ultramarine (59) tied by indistinct strikes of oval florette cancels, partly struck receiving backstamp, red crayon "10/2" credit, some small stamp flaws and cosmetic improvements to the coverVERY FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE MIXED FRANKING -- MIXED COUNTRIES AND MIXED ISSUES -- PAYING POSTAGE FROM CUBA TO THE UNITED STATES AND BEYOND TO SPAIN. ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE WITH THE NEW YORK FOREIGN MAIL GEOMETRIC CANCELS.
There are ten recorded mixed franking covers sent from Cuba to Spain. This cover is one of the most attractive of the Quadrado correspondence, because it has a large number of stamps, all of which are tied on the front, including by NYFM cancels.
Ex Boker
2c Brown (113). Two, used with two 3c Ultramarine (114), one s.e. at left, tied by segmented cork cancels, red "New York Paid All Direct Feb. 2" (1870) circular datestamp on cover with printed corner card to Meiningen, Germany, red boxed "Bremen Franco" transit datestamp, receiving backstamp, barely reduced at right, Very Fine, a beautiful 1869 Pictorial cover sent via NGU Closed Mail
2c Brown (113). Two, used with 15c Black, F Grill (98), tied by red Four Diamonds foreign mail cancels and matching "Baltimore Md. Sep. 10" (1869) circular datestamp on cover to Rome, Italy, red "4" credit handstamp, faint strike of red "New York Paid All Br. Transit Sep. 11" and receiving backstamps, red "Verviers/Coeln/Franco" four-line transit datestamp, purple boxed "P.D." handstamp applied by Italian railway post office, red crayon rate, black manuscript stroke ties left 2c, part of flap replaced and small edge mends, 15c stamp tiny tears at top and bottomVERY FINE APPEARANCE. A COLORFUL AND EXTREMELY RARE MIXED-ISSUE COVER TO ROME WITH RED BALTIMORE FOREIGN MAIL MARKINGS, SENT FULLY PAID TO ITS DESTINATION BY NORTH GERMAN UNION CLOSED MAIL.
Rome at this point was still part of the Papal States, defended in part by French troops and not yet incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. The most common route for mail from the U.S. to Rome was via French Mail. The mate to the cover offered here (ex Vogel, Siegel Sale 995, lot 2203, realized $8,500 hammer) was the subject of an article by George Hargest in Chronicle No. 45. At the time of mailing, Baltimore was an exchange office for some foreign mails. This letter was routed through New York where it went by Closed Mail via England to Ostend, then by the travelling post office from Verviers to Cologne, where the bag was opened and an accounting was made. It was then likely exchanged with the Italian railway post office that carried the letter to Rome.
With 2008 P.F. certificate
2c Brown (113). Two, used with two 3c Ultramarine (114), tied by segmented cork cancels and "Hartford Ct. Apr. 12" (1870) circular datestamp on overall lithographed Hartford Courant Newspaper corner card cover to Copenhagen, Denmark, unclear strike of New York circular datestamp and "Insufficiently Paid" straightline handstamp which ties one 3c, blue Verviers-Coeln backstamp, right 3c stamp with creases, minor edgewear, still Fine and colorful use from the Warner correspondence, the rates to Denmark by NGU mails were 13c prepaid and 16c unpaid, the Hartford mail clerk apparently experienced significant confusion on this point as a number of the covers from this correspondence are overpaid or underpaid
294 Selected Lots , Page 1 of 30
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