WINDSOR LOCKS CT. Type I with scrolls under "CT" and "KS", detailed strike of red pictorial handstamp with Oct. 22 date in manuscript on folded letter datelined "Windsor Locks October 21, 1833" to New Bedford Mass., "12-1/2" rate in manuscript, contents including interesting comment "We have a new Post Office lately established within a few rods of my door by the name Windsor Locks Post Office," some slight soiling

VERY FINE EXAMPLE OF THE PICTORIAL WINDSOR LOCKS HANDSTAMP AND THE EARLIEST RECORDED IN THE DUFFNEY CENSUS. A WONDERFUL ARTIFACT OF 19TH CENTURY AMERICAN POSTAL ART.

Windsor Locks is named for a set of canal locks that opened in 1829. It is situated just south of the first large falls in the Connecticut River, the Enfield Falls, which is the northernmost point that seagoing vessels can reach on the Connecticut River before transferring to smaller ships. The post office used two different pictorial handstamps showing a steamer in locks. The example offered here is the first type (see Duffney census at http://www.ctpostalhistory.com/CtPP/Postal_Markings_files/W-L2013LR.pdf , this is the earliest example listed). Richard B. Graham wrote that the Windsor Locks "Boat-in-Canal" pictorial postmark is “possibly the most distinctive early handstamp of them all."

Image Magnifier / Download

Power Search for Comparables