Sale 1289 — 2023 Rarities of the World
Sale Date — Tuesday, 27 June, 2023
Category — Ship Letters, including Hawaiian Missionary
1801, Batavia to United States from a U.S. Trading Vessel en route to Japan. Folded letter datelined "Batavia June 19th 1801" from Lewis Thatcher, a crew member of the American sailing ship Margaret, written to his uncle George Thatcher in Biddeford, Maine, "Boston Ms. Jan. 22" (1802) circular datestamp, "SHIP" handstamp and red manuscript "14-1/2" due rate, slight wear and small nick at topVERY FINE. A REMARKABLE LETTER WRITTEN FROM BATAVIA BY AN AMERICAN ON BOARD A TRADING VESSEL BOUND FOR JAPAN IN 1801. AN EXTREMELY EARLY POSTAL LINK BETWEEN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES.
In his letter written from Batavia on June 19, 1801, crew member Lewis Thatcher informs his uncle that he arrived from Indramayoe with a cargo of coffee for the Dutch East India Company "and we have discharged it and taken in another cargo for the Company to carry to Japan -- Where I expect to be gone about 6 months from this place..." He continues, "Capt. Derby has purchased a small Brig and is going to send her to the Isle of France to purchase a ship to return here to take in a load of Coffee for America."
The Margaret was an American sailing ship with a crew of 20 plus 6 guns. Under Captain Samuel G. Derby, she left Salem on Nov. 19, 1800, arrived at Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, Feb. 4, 1801, reached Sumatra Apr. 10, and finally Batavia Apr. 25. At Batavia Captain Derby agreed to take the annual shipments to and from Japan as a charter for the Dutch East India Company, an agreement reflected in the letter offered here. The Margaret left for Nagasaki on June 20, 1801, the day after this letter was written (it states "we are to sail by 4 o'clock tomorrow morning."). As the letter predicted, the Margaret returned from Japan and back to the United States loaded with trade goods, some of which are housed in the Salem museum.
The Netherlands was the only European country with which Japan allowed trade. The Dutch East India company made annual voyages to the man-made island of Dejima in Nagasaki harbor. Because of the Napoleonic Wars, Holland brought all of her ships home and negotiated with American ships to fly under the Dutch flag from 1797 to 1809. The Margaret was the second ship to reach Japanese waters and the first from which the captain and crew toured Japan, 52 years before the Perry Expedition.
From the Magnolia collection.
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India to Washington, D.C., 1834, Philadelphia Full-Rigged Ship Handstamp. Exceptionally clear strike of this wonderful pictorial handstamp in red with matching “PHILA/8/DEC.” octagonal double-line datestamp on 1834 folded cover with part of contents from India to Walter Lowrie, Secretary of the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C., manuscript “52” rate (2 x 25c plus 2c ship fee) crossed out and marked “F” for “Free”, sender’s ship-name directive “Per the Edward”, fresh and Very Fine, Lowrie was a U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, at this time he served as secretary to the Senate, the intact portion of the letter notes “since I came to India” -- arrived on the same ship as lot 508 -- from the Magnolia collection
India to Pittsburgh Pa., 1834, Philadelphia Full-Rigged Ship Handstamp. Slightly oily strike of this pictorial handstamp in red with matching “PHILA./8/DEC” octagonal double-line datestamp on 1834 folded letter from Calcutta, India, to Pittsburgh Pa., noted “Treble” at bottom but rated as a quadruple letter with red manuscript “77” for four-times 18-3/4c rate plus 2c ship fee, slight soiling and wear, letter also has some acidification inside with some brittle folds, small piece missing from wax seal, Fine appearing and rare combination of Calcutta origin and this iconic handstamp, which was used between May 1834 and September 1835, arrived on the same ship as the letter offered in lot 507 -- from the Magnolia collection
HAWAII, 1851, 5c Blue (2). Crocker Type II -- the righthand position in the setting of two with the distinctive small “n” in “Cents” (found only on the 5c Type II) -- huge top margin, large at left and bottom, slightly in at right but half of frameline intact, tied by Honolulu 7-bar grid cancel, bold red “Honolulu * Hawaiian-Islands * Feb. 16” (1853) circular datestamp on folded letter datelined “Hilo, Hawaii S.I. Jan 1st/53” from Dr. Charles H. Wetmore to John F. Rogers in Lowell, Massachusetts, partly readable strike of San Francisco circular datestamp (probably March 16) with clear strike of “12” handstamp (10c U.S. collect rate plus 2c ship captain’s fee), the stamp and the paper behind it have been cut out of the address panel and reattached (in the past this has been mistaken for rebacking), minor creases and sealed tear, but no paper addition or repainting, the letter itself is intact and attractiveVERY FINE APPEARANCE. AN ATTRACTIVE AND RARE HAWAIIAN MISSIONARY COVER. ONLY NINE COVERS WITH THE 5-CENT MISSIONARY ARE IN PRIVATE HANDS, FIVE OF WHICH HAVE THE STAMP USED ALONE.
Ten 5c Missionary covers are recorded in our census and the Gregory census. Included in this total are the Dawson 2c/5c cover and the 5c cover acquired by the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in the Honolulu Advertiser sale, leaving eight 5c covers for collectors. Upon further analysis, however, only five of those have a 5c Missionary used without any other stamps, and of those five, one is a front.
This cover was written at Hilo on January 1, 1853, but it was not postmarked at Honolulu until February 16. It was carried on the American schooner Sierra Nevada, which cleared Honolulu on February 16 and sailed the following day. After stopping at Lahaina, it left for San Francisco on February 24 and arrived on March 15. It was carried by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company’s Golden Gate, departing on March 16 and arriving at Panama City on March 28. The mail was carried across the isthmus to Aspinwall, and from there it left on the U.S. Mail Steamship Company’s Illinois, departing March 31 and arriving in New York on April 9. The recipient, John F. Rogers of Lowell, Massachusetts, paid the 12c United States postage, which included 10c for the unpaid transcontinental rate and 2c for the ship captain’s fee.
Ex Potts, Admiral Harris, Ishikawa, Golden and Gross. Weill backstamp. Siegel census no. 2-II-COV-69. Illustrated in Gregory book (page 299). With 2016 P.F. certificate. Scott value $90,000.00.