Lot 174
1857 (May 14) Washington, Ia. to Bayreuth, Bavaria, buff envelope bearing 5¢ red brown (12) ample to large margins, tied by "Washington Iowa May 14" c.d.s., black "New 23 York Br. Pkt. May 19" debit exchange office c.d.s., reverse with red "Aachen 2 6" transit c.d.s. and blue manuscript "45" (kreuzer) due, "Bayreuth 4 6" arrival backstamp, tiny edge tears, overall wear and aging, Fine, prepaid at the British open mail rate but actually handled as unpaid via the 30¢ Prussian Closed mail rate Illustrated in Frajola and Mayer, p. 105, fig. 9-3.
Estimate 2,000 - 3,000
Provenance: Rohloff
The cover was prepaid at the British open mail rate of 5 cents, but the New York clerk disregarded the prepayment and sent the cover as part of the Prussian closed mail. The Prussian Closed mail rate was 30¢ per ½ ounce to Prussia, Austria, and other German States. So, on a cover that was insufficiently prepaid, and hence treated as completely unpaid, the United States was entitled to the internal postage of 5¢ plus the sea and British transit postage of 18¢. The total of 23¢ was debited to Prussia and is shown in the exchange handstamp.
At New York the cover was placed in a closed bag that was transmitted, via England and Belgium, to Aachen, Prussia (Aix-la-Chapelle). The cover was carried by the Cunard Line steamer Europa, which departed from Boston on May 20, 1857, and arrived at Liverpool on May 31, 1857. The cover was rated as 45 kreuzer due in Aachen, equivalent to the total rate of 30¢. The cover also bears an arrival backstamp of June 4.
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| Realized $1,150 |
