5¢ Red Brown (12), block of four, margins full to slightly cut in, used with 1¢ Blue, Type II (7), Plate 1E, each stamp cancelled by rimless grid which ties 1¢, the 5¢ block tied by "Donaldsonville La. Sep. 8" (1856) circular datestamp on blue folded cover to Maubourguet, France, addressed to Pascal Labusquierre, red "New-York Am. Pkt. Sep. 20" circular datestamp--carried on the Havre Line Fulton, departing New York September 20, 1856, and arriving at Havre October 3--red "Outre-Mer Le Havre 3 Oct. 56" arrival datestamp for incoming ship (non-contract) mail, manuscript "12" decimes due (7.5-15 grams), French receiving backstamps

Fine overall; 5¢ block has small faults, 1¢ gum soaks, cover refolded at bottom, toning affects stamps.

Our records contain four 5¢ 1856 blocks on cover. An intact block of six on cover is the largest of all recorded multiples (offered in this sale as lot 234). The cover offered here is also an extremely rare example of the 5¢ 1856 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 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 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 224 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). This usage would be extraordinary with any composition of stamps, but the presence of an intact 5¢ 1856 block is truly miraculous. In New Orleans, where a large volume of 5¢ stamps were used, they were usually cut into strips. The river town of Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish was a low-volume source.

Ex Henry W. Hill, Rudolf Wunderlich, Louis Grunin, Ryohei Ishikawa and Frederick R. Mayer. Signed by Stanley B. Ashbrook and illustrated in his Special Service, #1, p. 3, photo 3. Illustrated in Hill, The United States Five Cent Stamps of 1856-1861 (p. 13) and Frajola-Mayer, The United States Five Cent Stamp of 1856 (p. 57). With 1993 P.F. certificate.

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