1c Blue, 5c Red Brown, 30c Orange (63, 71, 75). 30c pair in a beautiful bright early shade, tied together by three strikes of large "Paid" grid cancel on 1862 blue folded letter to Port Elizabeth, Cape of Good Hope, red "Boston Br. Pkt. Paid Oct. 21" circular datestamp on back, sender's directive "Via England p Persia", red crayon "52" credit crossed out and restated "56", large red crayon "2" for double British Colonial credit, red London transit datestamp (Nov. 1), stamps with few minor faults, vertical bleached streak at the right crosses 30c

VERY FINE. A COLORFUL AND EXTREMELY RARE 1861 ISSUE COMBINATION FOR THE DOUBLE 33-CENT RATE TO THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Double-rate covers from the Howland correspondence are almost always paid with 30c and 3c pairs, rather than this three-color combination. This cover is the perfect mate to lot 2505 in our sale of the Bailar collection (Sale 1105). Both covers were carried by the same Cunarder (different sailings) to Edwin Howland in the Cape of Good Hope. They have the same composition of denominations; however, the 5c on the Bailar cover is the Buff shade, and on this cover the relatively new Red Brown printing was used.

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