10c Black, Diagonal Half Used as 5c (2a). Lower left diagonal half, ample margins to just touched, well-tied across all three sides by red square grid cancel applied on arrival at New York City post office on folded Philadelphia & New York Steam Transportation Co. Swiftsure Line printed bill of lading with large woodcut illustration of canal steamboat tug, addressed to Owen Byrne in New York City, the bill of lading completed for a shipment of ale towed by the tugboat Anthracite via the Delaware and Raritan Canal, with integral letter datelined at Philadelphia June 28, 1851, from Poultney, Collins & Massey brewers, receipt docketing "June 28 rcd 30/51" indicating June 30, 1851 receipt date in New York City, the last day the 1847 Issue was valid for postage, stamp slightly gum toned

VERY FINE. AN EXTRAORDINARY USE OF A 10-CENT 1847 BISECT ON AN ILLUSTRATED BILL OF LADING CARRIED FROM PHILADELPHIA TO NEW YORK CITY IN THE RAILROAD "FAVOR BAG" AND CANCELLED ON ARRIVAL ON OR CLOSE TO THE LAST DAY THE 1847 ISSUE WAS VALID.

This cover is the subject of an article by Gordon Eubanks in Chronicle 223 and a follow-up article by Ardy Callender in the U.S. Cancellation Club News (May 2018). The folded bill of lading, with a spectacular woodcut engraving of a canal steamboat tug, was sent by one of Philadelphia's largest breweries, Poultney, Collins & Massey, to Owen Byrne in New York City, who evidently arranged for reshipment of the cargo (barrels of ale) to New Orleans. The letter was carried in the "Favor Bag" of mail transported between Philadelphia and New York on the railroad (see "'Favor Bag' Mail; New York City-Philadelphia, 1845-1851", Ed Harvey, LaPosta 109, pp. 24-32). On arrival the bisected 10c stamp was cancelled and accepted for the 5c under 300-mile rate. The New York post office in practice did not apply a datestamp to mail addressed within the city limits received in the railroad mail bag. However, the June 28, 1851, dateline and June 30 receipt docketing indicate that this bisected stamp was likely cancelled on the very last day the 1847 Issue was valid--on July 1, 1851, the new rates and stamps went into effect, and the 1847s were demonetized.

Ex Seybold (with his purple backstamp, lot 44 in the Mar. 15-16, 1910 sale). With 2004 P.S.E. certificate describing this (incorrectly) as an "overpaid drop letter" -- it is actually correctly prepaid 5c for the rate from Philadelphia to New York City.

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