Lot 187
1856 (Sep. 3) Annapolis Md. to Spezzia, Sardinia, folded cover addressed to a surgeon on board the flagship U.S.S. Susquehanna, bearing 5¢ red brown (12) vivid color, large to enormous margins including right centerline sheet margin, neatly tied by crisply struck "Annapolis Md. Sep 3" c.d.s. in black, endorsed "Per Cunard Line", red "New-York Br. Pkt. Sep 9" exchange office c.d.s., red Liverpool "SP 22 1856" (backstamp) transit, "Etats-Unis. Paq. Brit. A. Calais 22 Sept '56" entry c.d.s., "Genova 25 Set 56" and "Spezia 26 Set. 56" backstamps, manuscript "17" rating; mild coner bend at upper left affects margin of stamp slightly, minor edge faults and bleach spots, Very Fine and an extraordinary stamp, the 5¢ British open mail rate carried by British packet per ½ ounce, plus 17 décimes due for sea postage and postage from England to Sardinia.
Estimate 4,000 - 5,000
Provenance: Gibson, Eno, Rohloff, Klein
This letter was handled via Boston on the Cunard Line steamer Niagara, which departed from Boston on September 10 and arrived in Liverpool on September 21. It transited Calais and Genoa, arriving in Spezzia on September 26. It was rated as postage due 17 décimes, approximately 32¢ representing the postage for an unpaid letter from England to Sardinia, 10 pence rate plus 6 pence fine for being unpaid.
Almost all of the more than twenty reported usages of the 1856 5¢ to Italy are British open mail usages to Sardinia. Spezzia (La Spezia) served as a major supply port for American Naval vessels serving in the Mediterranean Sea, and this example is addressed to a sailor aboard the fleet flagship USS Susquehanna at the port.
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| Realized $5,500 |
