5c Red Brown (12). Large margins all around, tied by bold "Philadelphia Pa. Mar. 24" (1856) circular datestamp on folded letter to Halifax, Nova Scotia, sender's ship-name directive "pr 'Arabia' via Boston" and carried on the Cunarder Arabia, departing Boston on March 26, bold "Boston Br. Pkt. Mar. 26" transit datestamp on back, "UD. STATES/HALIFAX/MR 27/1856" receiving backstamp, "5" pence due handstamp for Nova Scotia inland postage, internal dateline of letter is misdated March 26, light toning along vertical file fold does not affect stamp and is not mentioned on accompanying certificate

EXTREMELY FINE. THIS IS THE EARLIEST DOCUMENTED USE OF THE 5-CENT 1856 ISSUE. AN IMPORTANT CLASSIC UNITED STATES COVER IN WONDERFUL CONDITION.

The 5c 1856 Issue was approved and ordered by the U.S. Post Office Department on October 24, 1855 (Travers papers). Secondary sources, using government records which apparently no longer exist, reported that sometime during the first week of January 1856 the 5c stamps were printed and in the hands of Jesse Johnson, the stamp agent in Philadelphia, where Toppan Carpenter was located. Despite this delivery date, the March 24, 1856, cover offered here has been the longstanding earliest documented date of use. The earliest documented use from the New Orleans post office, a high-volume distributor of 5c stamps, is July 20, 1856, which is further evidence of delayed release. We agree with the theory presented in the Frajola-Mayer book (pages 2-3) that because the new 5c issue was evidently never officially announced to postmasters, there was a months-long delay before the stamps were ordered by any post offices and sold to the public.

Ex Gore, Neinken, Grunin, Ishikawa, Hackmey and Gross. Illustrated in Ashbrook's Special Service, #52, p. 406, photo 213; Hill, The United States Five Cent Stamps of 1856-1861 (p. 5); Brookman, United States Postage Stamps of the 19th Century, Vol. I (p. 153); and Rose, Classic United States Imperforate Stamps (p. 68). With 2019 P.F. certificate

Image Magnifier / Download

Power Search for Comparables