3c Orange Brown, Type II (10A). Position 96L1E, margins to slightly in, beautiful fresh color, tiny corner creases at top right and bottom left, perfectly struck blue grid cancel (stamp tied by impression thru lettersheet), matching bold "Lowell. Ms. 3cts. Paid Jul. 1" (1851) First Day of Issue circular datestamp with integral rate on folded past due notice datelined "Lowell, 1st July, 1851", manuscript "Duplicate" at upper left, apparently one of a group stamped by James C. Ayer and mailed on the same day, the back of the lettersheet shows offset blue impressions of the circular datestamp and grid in the same relative positions, indicating that Ayer had affixed the new 3c stamps in the same place on each folded statement

VERY FINE. AN OUTSTANDING 3-CENT 1851 ISSUE FIRST DAY COVER--PARTICULARLY DESIRABLE WITH BLUE MARKINGS AND THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE USE OF THE NEW 3-CENT INTEGRAL-RATE DATESTAMP.

All three 1851 Issue stamps were supplied to certain post offices on or before July 1, 1851, the first day of the new rates. The census of 1851 First Day Covers published by Wilson Hulme in 2001 (The 1851 Issue of United States Stamps: A Sesquicentennial Retrospective, USPCS) tallied 45 covers from 23 cities in 11 states (one in the count was postmarked by the Louisville & Cincinnati Mail Line route agent). Two of the 45 covers have 1c stamps. The other 43 have 3c stamps, and currently there are no 12c July 1 covers known.

The cover offered here is especially desirable, because it has blue markings and the 3c integral-rate datestamp--a First Day for both the stamp and the datestamp.

Ex Dr. Chase (signed by him) and Piller. With 2007 P.F. certificate. Scott value $12,500.00

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