5¢ Red Brown, 10¢ Black (1, 2), 5¢ large margins to in at top, 10¢ large margins to just in, light crease from vertical file fold, tied by red grid cancels, matching "Charleston S.C. Nov. 14" (1848) circular datestamp on blue folded letter datelined "New York 11 Nov. 1848," sender's ship-name directive "Southerner via Charleston", light strike of red "Empresas N. America 18 Nov. 1848" double-circle datestamp, red "1" internal rate handstamp

Very Fine appearance. This is without question the finest example of the 1847 Issue used to Cuba. Only three are recorded, and this is the only example bearing both the 5¢ and 10¢ stamps.

Starting in July 1847, the rate to Cuba became 12-1/2¢ via American Packet. It was not lowered to 10¢ until July 1851. The 12-1/2¢ rate to Cuba at this time is rarely seen prepaid with the 1847 Issue, because it could only be underpaid or overpaid. The two other examples to Cuba are underpaid, each with a pair of 5¢ stamps. One of the two underpaid examples was sent to Charleston, where it was carried privately outside of the mails. The other was apparently accepted as fully paid and bears the same "Empresas N. America" marking.

A note in the Ashbrook index card files at The Philatelic Foundation quotes Ezra D. Cole, the dealer who bought the cover from its original discoverer: "It was found in Calendonia [sic], New York, a town a little east of Batavia. I got it from the original finder. He was a dealer."

Ex J. Waldo Sampson (bought from Ezra D. Cole), Jack Dick, Ryohei Ishikawa, Guido Craveri and Joseph Hackmey. Illustrated in Ashbrook, Special Service, #46, p. 363, photo 185, and Chronicle 77 (p. 7).

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