DESCRIPTION

5¢ Red Brown (1), three ample margins, clear to just slightly in at left, late impression, used with Canada, 1851, 3p Red on Laid (1), large even margins, bright color, both stamps tied by bold strikes of Canadian 7-ring target cancel, red "Montreal L.C. JU 8, 1851" circular datestamp, red "CANADA" in framed arc cross-border handstamp on blue folded letter from Montreal, Canada, to New York City, from the D. S. Kennedy correspondence, datelined "Montreal, June 7th 1851", sender's notation "p. paid" at top right, red "PAID" arc handstamp applied in New York ties both stamps and confirms that the 5¢ stamp affixed in Canada was accepted as full prepayment

PROVENANCE

Alfred F. Lichtenstein and Louise Boyd Dale, H. R. Harmer, Sale 10, 12/7-8/1970, lot 16, to Hillmer

Duane Hillmer (sold privately to Grunin)

Louis Grunin (sold privately to Garrett)

Duane B. Garrett (collection sold privately to Dr. Kapiloff)

Dr. Leonard Kapiloff, Siegel Auction Galleries, 6/9/1992, Sale 743, lot 121, to Craveri

Guido Craveri, Bennett sale, 3/23/2002, lot 47

Acquired by William H. Gross in a private transaction

CENSUS, LITERATURE AND EXHIBITION REFERENCES

USPCS census no. 261 https://www.uspcs.org/resource-center/censuses/1847-cover-census/

Winthrop S. Boggs, The Postage Stamps and Postal History of Canada, p. 79, fig. 36

Creighton C. Hart, "1847 Cross-Border Covers," Chronicle 98, p. 96, fig. 3

INTERPHIL 1976 (Hillmer)

Special Exhibition of Greatest Covers from the Collections of Alfred F. Lichtenstein and Louise Boyd Dale, published by The Philatelic Foundation, 1995

CERTIFICATION

The Philatelic Foundation (1992)

CONDITION NOTES

Extremely Fine; faint vertical file fold affects 3p stamp

HISTORY AND COMMENTARY

One Beaver, One Benjamin--Both Cancelled in Canada

The events that created the Beaver cover start on April 6, 1851, when a new postal treaty between Canada and the United States went into effect. For decades there had been no easy way to pay postage on letters between the two adjoining North American nations. Postage on each side was calculated based on distance to the border, and letters would be delivered marked postage due for the receiving country's share. The 1851 postal treaty created a reciprocal postage rate--6 pence in Canada and 10 cents in the U.S.--without any need for cumbersome postage collection. The new agreement went into effect on April 6, 1851.

On April 23, 1851, Canada's first issue of postage stamps became available. The 3-pence stamp was an orange-red, rectangular design depicting a semi-aquatic rodent, whose lustrous fur, when removed and turned into hats, had made it a vital part of Canada's economic history and a symbol of the British North American colony--the beaver. The Beaver stamp paid the 3p domestic rate in Canada.

At the same time in the United States, Congress had established lower postage rates and authorized new stamps to pay them, set for release on July 1, 1851. On that day the old 1847 Issue would no longer be valid for postage, and a three-month redemption period would commence. For years before, the 1847 stamps had been supplied to Canadian post offices and used there to prepay the U.S. postage on letters addressed to the states. After the 1851 U.S.-Canada postal treaty took effect, Canadian postmasters accepted the U.S. stamps in payment of the Canada 6-pence rate (roughly equivalent to 10¢ U.S.), even after the 1847s were demonetized in the their own country of origin.

The time between the release date of Canada's first issue and the last day the 1847 Issue was valid for postage in the U.S. is 69 days. During this brief period, the first issues of both countries, printed by the same firm--Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson--could be used on the same letter, but only under very unusual circumstances, which technically skirted the rules of the new treaty, but were nonetheless practiced and accepted by post offices on both sides.

This cover with a single Canada 3p Beaver and 5¢ 1847 was highlighted in Sale 10 of the Dale-Lichtenstein collection (H. R. Harmer, 12/7-8/1970) and realized $9,000, the second highest price of the auction, exceeded only by the mint corner pair of the Canada 1851 12p Black. It became part of the Duane Hillmer collection of Canada and then passed to Louis Grunin when the Hillmer collection was sold privately. Grunin's 1847s were acquired by Duane Garrett, and then the entire Garrett collection was bought by Dr. Leonard Kapiloff. At the Kapiloff sale in 1992, Guido Craveri bought the Beaver cover, and it was later sold to Mr. Gross.

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