New York, N.Y., 5¢ Black, "RHM" Initials (9X1d), Position 5, large margins, tiny scissors-cut at right, tied by brown manuscript cancel (bleed also ties through stamp) on folded letter datelined "Netherwood 20 Augt. 1845" to Sun Mutual Insurance Co. in New York City, sent by James Lenox, "New Hamburgh N.Y. Aug. 20" manuscript postmark with matching "5" due marking, red "PAID" arc applied in New York indicates acceptance of the stamp as payment, used with United States City Despatch Post, 3¢ Black on Blue Glazed Paper (6LB5), large margins, tied at lower right corner by slight ink smear from first letter of address, neat August 21 receipt docketing

Very Fine; small ink erosion at top right backed with document tape.

A remarkable cover bearing both the New York postmaster's provisional and a United States City Despatch Post stamp--from the well-known James Lenox correspondence.

The sender, James Lenox, inherited over a million dollars and 30 acres of land in Manhattan when his father died in 1839. He retired that same year, and focused on his passions: book collecting and philanthropy. He purchased a Gutenberg bible in 1847, which was the first to be brought to the United States. He was also a founder of Presbyterian Hospital. In 1870 his collection of rare manuscripts became the Lenox Library at the site of what is now the Frick Collection--the library was consolidated with the Astor Library and the Tilden Trust to become The New York Public Library.

In this usage, it appears that Lenox intended to have the government carrier deliver his letter from the main post office to the Wall Street address. From the time of their discovery until the early 1970s, there were two Lenox letters with this combination of postage: the August 20 letter in this sale and the September 2 letter with the carrier stamp affixed below the provisional. The Philatelic Foundation certified this August 20 cover as genuine, but declined to give an opinion of the September 2 cover. In a shocking example of vandalism precipitated by flawed certification, the carrier stamp was removed to obtain a favorable certificate, thereby destroying a significant postal history artifact. Only one other provisional/carrier combination is recorded: a front only, outbound to Europe with 9X1 and 6LB5.

Ex Henry and Raymond Lapham, Frederick R. Chaffee, Charles A. Shierson, Weill Brothers and Dr. Charles E. Test ("Concord" collection). USPCS census no. 20315. Illustrated in an article on the Dr. Kapiloff collection (The Penny Post, Vol. 3, No. 2 April 1993, p. 20). With 1974 P.F. certificate.

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