Lot 171
1858 (Mar. 29) Edgartown Ms. to Batavia, Java (Dutch East Indies), buff envelope bearing 5¢ red brown (12) nice color, margins to touching and in at left, 1857 10¢ green type I (31) severed pair, perfs trimmed, and 1857 10¢ green type III (33) pair, deep colors, tied by circular grid cancellations and "Edgartown Ms. Mar 29" circular datestamps, partial "Boston Br. Pkt. 30 Mar" exchange office c.d.s. and red "40" credit handstamp, red "London Paid AP 12 58" transit, manuscript "80" rating, lower left corner and top edge repair, part of flap replaced, horizontal scratch through first two 10¢ Fine, prepaid the 45¢ British mail rate but actually handled as endorsed via the 33¢ British mail rate via Southampton. Illustrated in Frajola and Mayer, p. 151, fig. 14-9.
Estimate 40,000 - 50,000
Expertization: 1977 P.F. certificate.
Provenance: Krug, Rohloff
The cover was prepaid at the 45¢ per ½ ounce rate by British mail via Marseilles, even though the cover was endorsed to go via Southampton. The rate, via Southampton, to Java had been lowered in February 1856 from 45¢ to 33¢ but an additional Netherlands charge was due for carriage beyond Singapore.
It is possible that the sender of this cover was not aware of the rate reduction or possibly prepaid the higher rate so that if the route via Marseilles was determined to be faster, it could be sent that way. It was mailed March 29, 1858, from Edgartown, Massachusetts, on Martha’s Vineyard, addressed to the captain of "Ship Minstrel" at Batavia. At the New York City exchange office the cover was directed to the British steamer and received the correct "40" credit in magenta manuscript, indicating that the United States was retaining only the 5 cents inland postage; the balance of 40¢ going to Great Britain.
The cover was carried by the Cunard Line steamer Arabia, which departed March 31 and arrived in Liverpool on April 11. It was marked as a paid letter at the London office the next day. The letter then caught the sailing of the Peninsular & Oriental Line steamer Indus, which departed Southampton on April 20 and arrived at Alexandria on May 5. After an overland trip, the letter reached Suez and was carried from there on the steamer Hindostan to Galle, Ceylon, where it arrived on May 22. It was then carried to Singapore per steamer Cadiz, arriving May 30. At Singapore it was rated at 80¢ collect for carriage to Batavia.
Illustrated in United States Letter Rates to Foreign Destinations 1847 to GPU-UPU, Charles J. Starnes, 1989, p. 30.
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| Realized $47,500 |
