Sale 260

The George Kramer Collection
of "Across the Continent" Maritime Usages


British North America
 
 
Lot Photo Description
Lot 96
 
1861 Cover to eastern Canada via San Francisco, 1860 2½d dull rose, perf. 14 (2), two singles cancelled bold red Victoria "1" on cover to Bowmanville, C.W., handstamped blue boxed exchange office postmark "U.STATES" in arc with manuscript instruction "Overland", San Francisco c.d.s., July 2, and handstamped rate "30" in circle, backstamped Bowmanville July 24; minor soiling, Very Fine and rare.
Estimate 4,000 - 5,000

Provenance: Wellburn
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Lot 97
 
1865 Cover to England via San Francisco, 1865 3d blue (7), three singles cancelled Douglas "2" on cover to England via San Francisco, postmarked on reverse General Post Office/ British Columbia c.d.s., Nov 8, 1865, U.S. 1861 grayish lilac (78a) is affixed over a red crayon "24" rate marking, cancelled by 4-ring target and tied by San Francisco c.d.s. Nov 27 with handstamped "PAID" alongside, faint red "N. York Am. Pkt./Paid 24 " c.d.s. also ties stamp, illegible British markings on reverse; minor perf flaws on the B.C. stamps and some professional restoration on the cover, fresh Very Fine appearance, a rare usage.
Estimate 4,000 - 5,000

Provenance: Knapp

Rates were 9d for Colonial postage plus 5¢ for U.S. internal postage and 16¢ for transatlantic postage by American Packet with 3¢ credit to Great Britain for internal postage.

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Lot 98
 
1865 Re-directed three-country cover to England via San Francisco, postmarked blue oval "Post Office/ Victoria Vancouver Island/ Paid", U.S. 24¢ grayish lilac (78a) tied by 4-ring target with June 30 San Francisco c.d.s. alongside, red "3/New-York Am. Pkt./ Aug/ 12" c.d.s. and red "Paid/ Liverpool/ U.S. Packet/ 23 Au 65" c.d.s., addressed to Dunkeld and redirected to Moffatt with G.B. 1d rose (33) affixed and tied by Aug 26 Dunkeld "118" duplex, backstamped Ballinluig Aug 24 and Moffat Aug 27; 1d stamp lifted to show the San Francisco postmark, vertical fold from thick contents affects the 24¢ which also has damaged perfs at top, otherwise a fine and, no doubt, unique combination.
Estimate 4,000 - 5,000

Provenance: Millburn
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Lot 99
 
1864 Returned cover to California, 1860 5¢ yellow green and 10¢ vermilion (8, 9) tied by oval grid on blue cover from Richibucto to San Francisco and returned, postmarked on reverse Richibucto, July, 1864, with July 16 St. John broken circle alongside, addressed to a Mr. William Miller "from Richibucto", red straight line handstamp "NOT CALLED FOR" on front with "San Francisco, Cal./Advertised" c.d.s. on Aug 17 and San Francisco c.d.s. on Sept 23 (upon departure) on reverse, finally with a neat "Dead Letter Office/New Brunswick" rimless c.d.s. Dec 1 on front; cover open on three sides with about a third of the back missing and some closed tears, still an attractive and completely unique and highly desirable usage.
Estimate 5,000 - 7,500

Expertization: clear 1987 V.G. Greene Certificate as a full cover.
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Lot 100
 
1859 Cover to California, 1851-57 3d dark blue and 6d dark green (3, 5), tied by incomplete oval grids on small cover from Digby to Coloma, Eldorado County, red "PAID/15" in circle exchange marking with Digby c.d.s. Sept 14 on reverse; stamps only fine, cover has 1-inch professionally sealed tear at right, Very Fine appearance. Only two covers are known from Nova Scotia to California during this period. The rate of 9d was equal to 15¢.
Estimate 5,000 - 7,500
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Lot 101
 
1863 Cover to California, 1860-63 5¢ blue and 10¢ vermilion (10, 12) tied together by mute oval grid on small cover from Liverpool, N.S. to San Francisco, forwarded to Garden Valley, Eldorado County, red "PAID/15" in circle exchange marking alongside San Francisco forwarding postmark Mar 18, handstamped "FORWARDED" in ribbon and "3", postmarked on reverse brown Liverpool broken circle Feb 9 and incomplete Halifax transit oval Feb 10; 5¢ stamp clipped at top and cover reduced a bit at right, a Fine and extremely rare usage. Garden Valley no longer had its own post office as of June 4, 1862.
Estimate 1,500 - 2,000

Provenance: Dale-Lichtenstein
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Lot 102
 
1863 Cover to California, 1861 3d blue and 6d green (2, 3) tied together and onto cover to Oroville, Calif. by neat 8-bar oval grids, postmarked on reverse "Prince Edward Island" (Charlottetown) c.d.s., June 12, 1863; stamps with damaged perfs at top, otherwise a fresh very fine cover, one of only two recorded covers utilizing the 9d rate for over 3,000 miles (the other is to Oregon) and the only one franked with the perf. 9 issue.
Estimate 4,000 - 5,000

Provenance: Lehr
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Lot 103
 
1869 Cover to California, 1862-68 2d rose (5), two singles tied by oval grid cancels on orange cover from Summerside to San Francisco, postmarked on reverse Summerside c.d.s., Apr 13 with (Charlottetown) "Prince Edward Island" c.d.s., Apr 15, alongside; somewhat soiled and both stamps damaged but the only recorded example of the 4d rate to California.
Estimate 1,500 - 2,000

Provenance: Lehr
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Lot 104
 
U.S. 5¢ Red brown (1), two horizontal pairs originally forming a block of four, margins to cutting, tied together by bold single pen stroke in blue, on buff envelope from Canada to California, addressed to a "Mr. William Phillips of Canada. Post Office San Francisco California", red slanting "Paid" and matching Montreal Aug 14 1850 postmark, manuscript "4½" rate, manuscript "p. paid" and "to be kept till called for" written by sender; cover extensively cleaned and repaired, penciled numbers at left, probably non-postal, strengthened, the left stamps with staining removed, their color affected, Very Good appearance.
Estimate 3,000 - 4,000

Expertization: 2002 Sismondo Certificate and a 1988 "no opinion" P.F. Certificate.

The rate from Montreal to the U.S. border was 4½d. The U.S. transcontinental rate was 40¢ with these two 5¢ pairs representing a 20¢ short payment of that rate.

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Lot 105
 
1856 Cover to California, 1852 3d red on thin paper (4d), single and pair with neat target cancels on small mourning envelope from Three Rivers, L.C. to Texas Hill, Calif., postmarked Three Rivers c.d.s. Feb 5, 1856, with Montreal broken circle of the same date on reverse, manuscript "paid 15" (¢); the pair is scored between the stamps and the single has corner creases, otherwise fresh and very fine. The only recorded cover using the 9d rate to the U.S. west coast and the imperf pence issue usage to California.
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Estimate 10,000 - 15,000

Expertization: 1990 B.P.A. Certificate.
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Lot 106
 
1860 Cover to California, 1859 5¢ vermilion (15), pair and single with manuscript cancels on cover from Brockton, C.W. to Grass Valley, Nevada County, Calif., red "CANADA/PAID 10cts" exchange marking and magenta manuscript "15" Canadian rate, postmarked Brockton broken circle Oct 25 (manuscript date) on reverse along with Hamilton broken circle Oct 26, redirected to Mountain Well with manuscript "For-d 3¢"; professionally restored edges, Fine-Very Fine and very scarce. Arfken records four of this franking; this is a fifth.
Estimate 1,000 - 1,500
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Lot 107
 
1866 Cover to California, 1859 5¢ vermilion (15), vertical pair tied by Brantford, C.W. duplex cancels, Aug 15, 1866, on yellow cover to San Francisco, Calif., small tear on reverse and minor toning around stamps, Fine and scarce. Arfken records seven examples of this usage.
Estimate 750 - 1,000
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Lot 108
 
1866 Cover to California, 1859 12½¢ yellow green (18), vertical pair and two singles tied by grid cancels on mourning cover from Toronto to New Westminster, British Columbia, postmarked Jan 29 Toronto broken circle with manuscript instruction "Via New York", docketed on reverse Mar 18; insignificant perf flaws, fresh and very fine, a unique usage, the only recorded example of a 50¢ rate to California.
Estimate 7,500 - 10,000

Provenance: Leggett, Richardson
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Lot 109
 
1867 Cover to California, 1859 10¢ red lilac (17), tied by neat Dec 17 Montreal duplex cancel on blue folded letter to Yokohama, Japan via San Francisco with manuscript sender's instruction "Via Panama" and bold red "PAID/(fleuron)/ALL" in double-line circle; horizontal file crease and minor age spots but a unique usage and a fabulous showpiece.
Estimate 15,000 - 20,000

The cover is addressed to a "Charles Thorel, Japan" in care of J. B. Williams, a San Francisco forwarding agent. Williams added "Yokohama" to the address and prepaid the 10¢ American Packet rate from San Francisco to Japan.

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