Sale 1211 — The William H. Gross Collection: United States Postal History
Sale Date — Tuesday-Wednesday, 29-30 October, 2019
Category — 1851 12¢ Black
An extraordinary cover to Sweden with the 42¢ Prussian Closed Mail rate paid by a 12¢ 1851 and strip of 10¢ Type III 1855 Imperforate Issues12¢ Black (17), Position 9L1 with double transfer, mostly full margins, just barely in at bottom, used with horizontal strip of three 10¢ Green, Type III (15), large margins to slightly in at bottom, tied by two strikes of "Galva Ill. Jun. 17" (1857) circular datestamp on cover to Hudiksvall, Sweden, sender's route directive "Via Prussian Closed Mail" and correctly prepaid 42¢, red "19" credit handstamp (no exchange office datestamp)--carried on the Cunarder Canada, departing New York on June 24, 1857, and arriving at Liverpool July 7--red "AACHEN 8/7 FRANCO" (July 8) framed datestamp, magenta manuscript "f5" indicating 5 silbergroschen postage paid beyond German-Austrian Postal Union border, backstamped with "St.P.A. 9 Jul 57" Hamburg oval, "K.D.O.P.A. HAMBURG 9/7" circular datestamp applied on back by the Royal Danish Postal Agency in Hamburg, and "(K.S.?)P.A. Hamburg 9/7 1857" double-circle applied by Royal Swedish Postal Agency in Hamburg, Helsingborg (July 10) datestamp
Very Fine; stamps lifted and reaffixed, and some minor cover wear.
Prior to the catastrophic crop failures and famine of 1867-1869, which drove Swedish farming families to leave their country, there was only a small population of Swedes living in the United States. Consequently, mail volume was low, and covers from the 1840s and 1850s are rare. The rural community of Swedish religious dissidents in western Illinois was founded in 1846. About 400 immigrants arrived under the leadership of Erik Jansson, a wheat farmer turned preacher, after a three-month voyage from Sweden and a 150-mile trek from Chicago. In 1857 the Andover and Galva post offices served these Swedish settlers. The letters had to first travel from the midwest to the port city of New York, then across the Atlantic on a steamship, usually to England, where they were forwarded to the Prussian postal authorities for delivery to the Swedish postal agency. The price of sending a letter by this route was 42¢ per half-ounce in 1857, with 19¢ credited to Prussia. A strip of three 10¢ stamps and single 12¢ conveniently paid the postage.
Ex Jack Dick, J. David Baker, Tito Giamporcaro and Joseph Hackmey. With 1983 and 1999 P.F. certificates.
