Sale 1211 — The William H. Gross Collection: United States Postal History
Sale Date — Tuesday-Wednesday, 29-30 October, 2019
Category — 1851 12¢ Black
This beautiful cover is one of six recorded with a block of the 12¢ 1851 Issue, and it is the only block known used to Sardinia12¢ Black (17), block of four, large margins including parts of adjoining stamps at bottom, slightly in at upper right and top, tied by "Chicago Ills. May 13" (1856) circular datestamp on buff cover to midshipman R. W. M. Graham aboard the U.S. Ship Constellation at Spezzia, Sardinia, sender's route directive "by Mail Steamer to Liverpool, England", prepaid 48¢ which might have been intended (erroneously) to pay the double 24¢ treaty rate to England or to overpay (by 6¢) the double 21¢ French Mail rate to Italy, but in the actual event overpaid (by 10¢) the double 19¢ rate to Italy by Prussian Closed Mail--carried on the Ocean Line Hermann, departing New York on May 17, 1856, and arriving Southampton May 31 and Bremen June 2--red "New-York Am. Pkt. May 17" backstamp, magenta manuscript "15" credit marking, red "AACHEN 3/6 FRANCO" (June 3) framed datestamp, German transit backstamp (June 5), Genoa backstamp (June 8), matching "VIA DI SVIZZERA", "P.D." and "FRANCA" handstamps on front
Very Fine; cover with few minor edge tears at top from opening, neatly sealed and not affecting block.
Midshipman R. W. Meade Graham, the addressee, was born in Washington D.C, on July 14, 1837. He passed away in November 1856 after succumbing to typhoid fever while serving on the U.S.S. Constellation, only a few months after receiving this letter.
Collectors are acutely aware of the rarity of blocks and large multiples of the imperforate stamps issued from 1847 through 1857, when perforated issues replaced them. The rarity increases significantly for blocks used on cover. We are currently aware of six blocks of the 12¢ 1851 Imperforate on cover. The largest multiple on cover is a vertical block of six (with a strip of three) on a cover to Norway in the Charles A. Hirzel collection at the Swiss Museum of Communications in Berne, Switzerland (see Chronicle 244). There is also a strip of six on cover in the James Allen collection. The cover offered here is the only example of a block used to Sardinia.
Ex Joseph Hackmey. With 2005 P.F. certificate.
