Just Won This Baby On Ebay...

I really like it...
cover dated 1796...

Could it be official mail?

Here is the text accompanying the sale.
I trust the seller..

Very nice stampless folded letter sheet ex-Cal Hahn a noted philatelic exhibitor and expert of the 20th century. Comes with his characteristic notes as shown below - this was previosly priced at $150:

LATEST STRAIGHT LINE
Partial strike of N-YORK*JA 23 and black PAID with 15c rate to Comptroller Jones at Albany. Discusses land. This is latest I have yet recorded the NYC straightlines

Stampvirgin, congratulations on the great pre-stamp envelope. These envelopes are great pieces of postal history. Thanks for sharing.
Mike

Here is more information.
Calvet Menger Hahn
(March 10, 1927â€"May 6, 2004) New York

Calvet M. “Cal� Hahn was a widely recognized scholar and researcher of early United States philately including the prestamp era. His strongly expressed opinions often clashed with those of others in his field, giving rise to descriptions of him as being feisty and combative. Yet his encyclopedic philatelic knowledge was legendary and serious students sought him as a mentor and advisor. Those who were able to penetrate his “crustiness� were rewarded with his dry sense of humor and his willingness to go out of his way to help fellow collectors.
Cal Hahn contributed hundreds of articles to the philatelic press demonstrating his emphasis on research. He received the APS Luff award for distinguished philatelic research in 2000. His writings embraced colonial posts, transatlantic mails, and nineteenth-century United States classic issues, as well as general topics such as stamp color and gum. He amassed what is probably the greatest collection of New York state stampless covers.
He was a life member of the Collectors Club of New York and served on the editorial board. His writings have been recognized with awards from the Society of Philatelic Americans, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, and the Collectors Club of New York among others. In 2001 he was elected to the Writers Hall of Fame. He served as board member and editor of several local and regional postal history societies. He was a recognized expert for the Philatelic Foundation and other organizations.

Looks like 1798?

cjd.. could be. I was copying the posters text. It does look like 1798, and I believe that is what it is before I bid on it.

I wonder if this was part of the Siegel sale of Hahn material in December, 2010.

not sure..
I shall have to look.

The New York Comptroller's office wasn't established until 1797 so January 23(5), 1798 is the more likely date.

Cal Hahn was a widely recognized expert for many years; I was fortunate enough to meet him several times back in the 70's.

Impressive cover Stampvirgin, congratulations. Is the year noted anywhere else other than the pencil notation on the cover. In the letter itself, or example?

By the way, I'm wondering, considering the kind of material you keep showing us, if it's time to change your moniker? Nothing we've seen from you makes you seem very virginal, philatelically speaking.

The date appears at least two other places, and one of them is quite visibly 1798. The other instance I thought might be 1790 when I first saw it, but I'm sure in person it is 1798.

Here is an interesting tidbit on the Etymology of the word Comptroller for anyone who's interested?

Quote:
The term comptroller evolved in the 15th century through a blend of the French compte ("an account") and the Middle English countreroller (someone who checks a copy of a scroll, from the French contreroule "counter-roll, scroll copy"), thus creating a title for a compteroller who specializes in checking financial ledgers. This etymology explains why the name is pronounced identically to "controller" despite the unique spelling. However, comptroller is often mispronounced phonetically, as it is spelled.

James If I changed it, I would have to start all over, and then no one would know who I was.

I queried the seller and he said this came from a Kelleher sale, and the price of $150.00 was from that auction. Apparently Kelleher though it was worth more then ebay shoppers did. It is 1798, which makes it the earliest stamp-less cover I own. I am eagerly waiting to get it in the mail. The notes on the cover are from Cal Hahn himself.
BTW.. going through my GB stamps I found an unused 1 penny red. How cool is that?