Lot 2048
1860, 90¢ blue (39), fresh example, used in combination with 30¢ orange (38) and 12¢ black (36b) on 1861 cover to Mackellop, Stewart, & Co. in Calcutta, India, all with matching bright red grid New York foreign mail cancels, red "New York AM. Pkt. Jan 26" origin datestamp, red "London FE 8 '61" transit backstamp, manuscript "2/11" (two shillings, eleven pence) due rating and partial strike of "Calcutta Steam Letter Mar 16" boxed backstamp with "1/8/9" due rating (one rupee, eight annas, nine pies) as restatement of due rate, endorsed by sender "P Overland Mail / via Marseilles", red-orange "E. Paterstedt & Co. New York" merchant handstamp on reverse, no flap, Very Fine and choice.
Estimate 300,000 - 400,000
WIDELY CONSIDERED TO BE ONE OF THE TWO FINEST 90¢ 1860 COVERS. THE FIRST TIME THIS CELEBRATED COVER IS BEING OFFERED AT PUBLIC AUCTION.
Expertization: 1998 P.F. Certificate.
Provenance: Armitage, Lapham
The Armitage cover was franked with $1.32 in postage that correctly prepaid the British Mail rate to India via Southampton for letters between 1 oz. and 1¼ oz. However, the sender endorsed it to go via Marseilles, which required $1.62 in postage for prepayment of a letter between 1 oz. and 1¼ oz. As a result of the underpayment, all but the transatlantic postage would have been ignored and it was treated as paid only to England. The British rate to India was 3 shillings, 8 pence, less a 4 pence reduction for quadruple rate colonial servicing, leaving 2/11 total due. The Indian post office collected the equivalent amount being one rupee, eight annas, and nine pies from the recipient.
This cover entered the mails in New York City leaving on the Inman line's Edinburgh and arriving at Liverpool on February 7th and at London the following day. The letter then transitted France in a British closed mail bag leaving Marseilles February 13th on the Feetis, arriving into Alexandria on February 19th. The P & O steamer Nemesis left Suez on the February 21st, reaching Galle, Ceylon on March 9th with final arrival into Calcutta, India on March 16th, 1861.
The cover was first sold privately in 1920 by Sefi, Pemberton, & Co. to George Armitage. In 1930, The Armitage collection was purchased by famed English dealer, Frank Godden and placed intact to Henry Lapham. The dispersal of the Lapham collection was quietly handled by John Boker who asked Boston dealer W.C. Colson to handle the Armitage cover. In the 1950's Stanley Ashbrook challenged the authenticity of the cover based on an inadequate understanding of the rates involved. Since that time additional information has become available that confirms the rate analysis given above.
There are five recorded 90¢ 1860 usages abroad:
1. Sep 11, 1860, single franking paying double the 45¢ rate to Augustine, Heard, & Co. in Shanghai, China, stamp with sealed tears; ex-Gibson, Hindes, Kapiloff.
2. Nov 3, 1860, single with 5¢ and 10¢ paying five-times the 21¢ rate to a commercial firm in Barcelona, Spain; ex-Caspary, Rust, Kapiloff.
3. Nov 9, 1860, single with 3¢ 5¢ 10¢ and 30¢ pair paying the $1.68 rate to Augustine, Heard, & Co. in Shanghai, China, 90¢ reperfed on all sides; ex-Needham, Paliafito, Ishikawa, Myers.
4. Jan 26, 1861, single with 12¢ and 30¢ shortpaying the four-times $1.62 rate via Marseilles to Mackellop, Stewart, & Co. in Calcutta, India; ex-Armitage, Lapham, Dick. (the cover offered here)
5. Jul 16, 1861, single with 1¢ pair, 3¢ 10¢ and 30¢ paying four-times the 33¢ rate to Edwin Howland in Cape of Good Hope, filing crease through 90¢; ex-Jacobs, Emerson, Newbury, Ishikawa.
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