U.S.P.O., Philadelphia Pa., 1c Black (7LB18). Lightly-struck U.S.P.O Despatch oval handstamp on what appears to be 1c 1851 sheet margin with some blue plate wash, uncancelled, used with 1c Blue, Ty. IV (9), horizontal strip of three, ample margins to cut in, rich color, tied by two strikes of large "Paid" grid cancel and red "Boston 3 cts. 1 Nov." integral-rate circular datestamp on blue folded cover to Philadelphia street address with instructions "Please delivery immediately", receipt docketing dated 1852, file folds, one of which creases stamp at right

THE ONLY RECORDED USE OF THE PHILADELPHIA 7LB18 CARRIER STAMP ON AN INBOUND COVER.

Based on accepted genuine examples, it appears that the Philadelphia carrier stamps on 1c 1851 adhesive sheet margins came into use in 1856 and are known only on "to the mails" covers from Philadelphia. However, this cover predates the 1856 examples by slightly more than three years, and the use of the carrier stamp to pay for delivery from the mails is unusual. The street address and instructions to "deliver immediately" support the idea that the carrier affixed the stamp as a form of receipt and/or accounting for a coin received when he delivered the letter. The cover's provenance also supports its genuineness: the "CEC" handstamp at lower left identifies C. E. Chapman as a previous owner, which dates the cover to the early part of the 20th Century.

Ex Chapman, Gibson, Bailar and Dr. Morris. With 1990 and 2018 P.F. certificates, both of which state this is a genuine usage of Scott 7LB18 on cover

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