Historic Find???

Hello everyone,I am back and back I think with A HUGE FIND!I think I purchased the mother load today,perhaps the holy grail find in stamps! I cannot believe what I am looking at here,and I have perhaps 50 more envelopes like this with real old dates on them and alot of them written out in those old pens they used to use where you dipped pen in ink and then began to write..I think I have alot of very special stuff here that I want to begin to show you all..
Here's the first I think is quite special..The original envelope is being held in a cellophane envelope..please have a look and please tell me what you think about this..perhaps this is very special and belongs in a museum??I look forward to your replys and and help or input would be greatly appreciated.Ihave tons more to show you this weekend so if its ok I will get to scanning..I havnt gone through a fraction of what I have here and my heart is beating a million miles an hour already! hahahha
The 1st scan shows envelope in the cellophane envelope,2nd is out of it.I can scan more pics if we need to do so

Here's a bio and picture of the addressee. He was later the Commissioner of Internal Revenue!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_D._Pratt

Daniel Darwin Pratt was a Senator from Indiana serving Mar. 4, 1869 to Mar. 3, 1875. The cover appears to have a San Francisco cancel with a Dec 1874 date. With this mailing date I would suspect that the stamps are Continental printings (Scott 158).

Has anyone ever seen anything quite like this? Rarity or common stuff here?

Going to scan ALL of my envelopes now and will be back in hour or so,,this is some VERY unique stuff that I have never imagined was out there like this

The stamps and usage is common. The value is historical in the addressee.

Very interesting old cover.

The more history and detail you can find on the addressee or the sender always helps to improve their value on the secondary market. However, do consider that a US Senator probably received a high volume of mail, so while it is definitely a collectible cover, I don't think you'll find it to be all that valuable as "historic" or "museum" quality.

Still very collectible, though.

And I wish UFOAIRMAIL would not talk about pen and ink as if it were the middle ages! I used pen and ink in school! And I am NOT ready for a museum yet!
All kidding aside, the one example you show is very pretty. The handwriting is beautiful. What does that little sideways 8 mean, after D.C., if anything?

Peter,

To Infinity and beyond (with thanks to Buzz Lightyear)

Nice cover btw

A $3 to $5 cover, in that range, somewhat enhanced by the 6c franking. Are the contents there? On to the next cover!

No contents in that one guys but in these next covers I will post here directly,under a new post,many of these appear to be unopened and when held up close to a light I can see contents in them but I do not want to touch or open them..I have them all cropped now and ready to post so here I go..