5¢ Red Brown (12), four singles, margins vary from huge to barely touched, intense shade, used with 1¢ Blue, Type II (7), intense shade and mottling characteristic of Plate 3, large margins to slightly in at right, tied by light strikes of "New Orleans La. Nov. 29" (1856) circular datestamp on greenish gray folded cover to Paris, France, Loison & Co. New Orleans blue oval handstamp, red "New-York Am. Pkt. Dec. 12" circular datestamp--carried on the Havre Line Arago, departing New York on December 13, 1856, and arriving at Havre on December 27--red "Outre-Mer Le Havre 27 Dec. 56" arrival datestamp for incoming ship (non-contract) mail, manuscript "12" decimes due (7.5-15 grams), French transit backstamps including Paris receiving datestamp (December 27)

Very Fine; lightened stains around stamps, 1¢ stamp moved slightly to the right to reveal 5¢ margins.

This cover is an extremely rare example of the 5¢ 1856 Imperforate used to make up the American Packet rate to France. Only five fully prepaid 5¢ 1856 covers to France by American Packet are recorded, three of which are offered in this sale (lots 224-226).

There were two American Packet services to France available: Collins Line via England--21¢ per half-ounce rate with 8 decimes per 7.5 grams due for British transit and French inland postage; and Havre Line direct to France--20¢ per half-ounce rate with 6 decimes per 7.5 grams due for French inland postage. The two ships of the Havre Line, Fulton and Arago, made only 12 trips during the one-year period from March 1856 (earliest use of 5¢ 1856) until the new 15¢ U.S.-France treaty rate was implemented in April 1857.

Two of the five recorded prepaid American Packet covers were carried by the Collins Line via England. They are both correctly prepaid 21¢--one has a three-color franking (lot 225 in this sale), and the other has a strip of 5¢ and 1¢ single (ex Hargest and Beane; illustrated in Hargest book, p. 53).

Three other prepaid covers were carried by the Havre Line direct to France. Only one has the correct amount of postage for the 20¢ rate (ex Walske, Sale 1119, lot 536). The other two are overpaid 1¢ (the cover offered here and lot 226 in this sale). It is believed that the practice of prepaying the slightly higher rate was a way to ensure that a letter would be sufficiently prepaid for the earliest available sailing from New York. The cover offered here is an example of a letter prepaid 21¢ for Collins Line service via England, but sent by the Havre Line direct to France (20¢ rate).

Ex Alfred H. Caspary, Philip G. Rust, Frederick R. Mayer and Joseph Hackmey. Illustrated in Frajola-Mayer, The United States Five Cent Stamp of 1856 (p. 58). With 2005 P.F. certificate stating "genuine usage."

Image Magnifier / Download

Power Search for Comparables