10c Brown, With & Without Secret Mark (187-188). Horizontal pair, right stamp without secret mark, used with two 2c Vermilion (183), tied by "Natick Mass. Jul. 8 10AM" duplex cancels on cover to Melbourne Australia, San Francisco and Boston transit and "AU 28 (18)82 Melbourne" receiving backstamps, small perf faults at top of the 10c pair which are really negligible, cover slightly reduced at left and with tape stains at sides

FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE COMBINATION PAIR OF THE 10-CENT AMERICAN BANK NOTE ISSUE WITH AND WITHOUT SECRET MARK USED ON A COVER TO AUSTRALIA. A POWER SEARCH REVIEW OF OUR WEBSITE FINDS NO OTHER EXAMPLES OF THIS COMBINATION PAIR ON A COVER.

A search of the online records of the Philatelic Foundation finds only one other example of this combination pair on a cover -- to Germany with no other stamps (PFC 225088) -- but that pair is not tied to the cover.

A Google search of the recipient revealed that he was a native of Wellesley Mass. who collected and performed research around the world on butterflies, gems and other related areas.

With 2014 P.F. certificate

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