Lot 186
1856 (Oct. 31) Peoria Ill. to Eperies, Hungary (Czechoslovakia), orange buff envelope bearing 5¢ red brown (12) rich color, three full to large margins including huge sheet margin at bottom, slightly in at right, tied by boldly struck "Peoria Ills. Oct 31" c.d.s., endorsed "p. first Steamer via Liverpool", black "23 N. York Am. Pkt. Nov 8" debit exchange c.d.s., red "Aachen 22 11" transit backstamp, blue "48" (kreuzer) rating, "Caschau. 26 Nov." straightline transit backstamp, Very Fine, pre-paid the 5¢ British open mail rate, actually handled via the 30¢ Prussian Closed mail rate per ½ ounce. Illustrated in Frajola and Mayer, p. 150, fig. 14-8.
Estimate 10,000 - 15,000
THE ONLY RECORDED 1856 5¢ USAGE TO HUNGARY AND, IN FACT, TO THE ENTIRE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE.
Provenance: Rohloff, Gallagher, Tito
The cover prepaid the 5¢ British open mail rate, but was endorsed "by first steamer via England". By the time the cover had arrived in New York City, it was apparently too late to catch the Cunard Line sailing of the Arabia from Boston that departed on November 5, 1856. The cover was bagged for carriage on the Collins Line packet Atlantic, an American packet that carried mail under the Prussian Closed Mail Treaty. The cover was insufficiently prepaid, and hence treated as completely unpaid in New York with 23¢ debited to Prussia for 5¢ inland postage plus the sea and British transit postage of 18¢. The cover was placed in a closed mail bag transmitted via England and Belgium to Aachen Prussia. The Collins Line steamer Atlantic carried the cover departing New York on November 8, arriving into Liverpool on Novermber 20. It reached Aachen on November 22, rated 48 kreuzers in Austrian currency, equivalent to 30¢.
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| Realized $10,500 |
