Sale 1284 — The Yellowstone Collection of 1847 Issue Covers
Sale Date — Wednesday, 3 May, 2023
Category — 1847 Issue: Minnesota Territory, "Paid", "Free" and Numeral Cancellations
10c Black (2). Three large margins, just clear at bottom where there is a minute margin tear at left, manuscript "X" cancel and tied by "Saint Paul Min. Ter. Feb 12" (1851) circular datestamp, struck in an oily greenish blue ink on buff envelope addressed to Jenks & Ogden in PhiladelphiaVERY FINE. THIS IS THE ONLY RECORDED COVER FROM MINNESOTA TERRITORY WITH THE 1847 FIRST GENERAL ISSUE-- AN OUTSTANDING RARITY OF THE ISSUE AND OF THE CLASSIC PERIOD IN GENERAL.
Post Office records show that on February 4, 1851, the postmaster at St. Paul (J. W. Bass) received and signed for 200 5c and 1,200 10c stamps of the 1847 issue. Eight days later J. Ridgway Jenks, who was a partner in a pharmacy business and the brother of Governor Alexander Ramsey's wife, posted this cover. It is the only known 1847 Issue cover from Minnesota Territory.
This cover's discovery was reported by Susan M. McDonald (Chronicle 153, February 1992). Illustrated in The United States 1847 Issue: A Cover Census (p. 283). Ex Risvold and Gross. With 1991 P.F. certificate stating the datestamp is dark blue.
