90¢ Carmine (191), bright color, straight edge at right, couple sealed tears at left into design, tied by bold strike of "Boston Mass." oval cancel, purple framed "Boston, Mass. Feb. 16, 1888 Reg. No." registry datestamp with pencil "13478" registry number (crossed out) on legal-size cover to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, sender's ship-name directive "Per S. S. Advance", New York registry label, "New York, N.Y. Reg'y Div. 2-17 1888" oval backstamp, blue Rio de Janeiro (March 22) receiving datestamp on back, the stamp pays the 10¢ registry fee plus 16-times the 5¢ Universal Postal Union rate

Very Fine appearance; slightly reduced and opened on two sides.

This is an extremely rare single-stamp franking with the 1879 90¢ American Bank Note Company Issue. Power Search located only two other intact covers with this stamp, and this is the only one with a single stamp. The records of The Philatelic Foundation contain two others, both mixed frankings and both seriously defective.

Ex Emmerson C. Krug and Dr. Alfred Martin. Illustrated in Linn's U.S. Stamp Facts (p. 150). With 1955 P.F. certificate.

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