1c Blue, Ty. Ia (19). Plate 4, bright color, tied by red "U.S. Mail/City Delivery/1/ May 18" carrier department circular datestamp on folded letter bootlegged from Marseille, France to New York, sender's blue oval handstamp and manuscript routing instructions "per Steamer 'Arago' via Havre", light vertical file fold well away from stamp, minor ink erosion

VERY FINE. A RARE BOOTLEGGED LETTER FROM FRANCE AND DELIVERED BY CARRIER IN NEW YORK CITY, PREPAID WITH THE DESIRABLE 1857 ONE-CENT TYPE IA.

Type Ia was produced by only 18 of the 20 bottom-row positions on Plate 4. This folded letter was carried privately aboard the Havre Line's Arago, which left Havre on May 4, 1859, and arrived in New York on May 17. It was postmarked the next day at the New York City carrier department.

With 1987 P.F. certificate

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