Lot 170
1858 (May 4) Troy N.Y. to Saugor, Hindustan (India), blue folded letter bearing 5¢ red brown (12) bright color, three margins mostly clear, cut in at bottom, and 1857 10¢ green types II, III (32, 33) block of four, positions 33-34/43-44L1, tied by "Troy N.Y. Paid May 4" c.d.s., endorsed "overland via Southampton", black "Boston Br. Pkt. 5 May" backstamp and red "40" credit handstamp, British red "Paid 1858 MY 17" transit, manuscript "1", reverse with red "Bombay JU 24 1858" transit and "Saugor 29 Jun" arrival c.d.s.; block originally folded over top edge, lettersheet refolded and partially reinforced inside with silk paper, the crease through the right pair of block, 5¢ with tiny crease, Very Fine, the 45¢ British mail rate via Southampton. Illustrated in Frajola and Mayer, p. 134, fig. 12-4.
Estimate 30,000 - 40,000
THE LATEST DATE OF THE THREE RECORDED 1856 5¢ USAGES TO INDIA.
Expertization: Signed Stanley B. Ashbrook, 1989 P.F. Certificate.
Provenance: Neinken, Beals
The third cover in the correspondence was exhanged at the Boston office and directed to the British steamer, receiving the correct "40" credit handstamp in red. The letter was carried by the Cunard Line steamer Canada, which departed May 5 and arrived in Liverpool on May 17. The letter then caught the sailing of the Peninsular & Oriental Line steamer Colombo, which departed Southampton on May 20 and arrived at Alexandria on June 2. After an overland trip, the letter reached Suez and was carried from there on the steamer Nubia, which departed June 4 and arrived at Aden on June 10. From Aden the letter was taken by steamer to Bombay and thence to the destination, where it arrived on June 29, 1858.
This cover is the only one of the group of three that shows the 1 penny credit from Great Britain to India (the red manuscript "1"). According to Moubray (page 190), the 1 penny credit had been introduced on mails to India in September 1856, but the first two examples from this correspondence do not show it.
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| Realized $42,500 |
