Help (Again). Hand Stamped Envelope/Letter Combo From 1846

Sorry to ask again but whilst going through the trove I found this missive from 1846.

The postage appears to be hand stamped and I think the letter came originally from Milwaukee.

Could someone please tell me if these are of value and what is the proper name for them? The letter runs two pages. I have included a copy of the letter in the scan as that is where the year is shown.

Thanks in advance.

Beaver Dam, Wisconsin is a town about an hour NW of Milwaukee. And that's by car nowadays. No idea what that would have been by horse back then.

I think the term for these is generally folded letter, or stampless folded letter. I could be wrong, but I generally use the term stampless cover when referring to envelopes without adhesive stamps.
Certainly of value, I'd say but I couldn't tell you how much. I've been picking these up lately for a wide range of prices. I do like the handstamped 10 (¢ postal rate) with the dotted line circling around it. I've never seen one like that.

stampless folded letter is the correct name if it has content if no content then it would be a stampless cover. Price range on ebay could be anywhere from 99 cents to $20 depending if more than one person wanted it. I have sold tons of these on ebay and they are very popular depending on what part of the States they were mailed to and from and what the content is about.

Interesting cover. Wisconsin did not become a state until 1848 so this is a territorial cover.

ronv is on-track with this. Yes, this stampless folded letter is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin Territory. The American Stampless Cover Catalog (5th ed, 1997) lists this marking at $35 with the dotted circle/10 rate marking. Yours is in lesser grade than normal, but often times the value lies in the historic contents or the signature of the author. I see near the bottom "and perhaps may have this mailed at Detroit". With the dateline from a village in the interior, I would not be surprised with a price considerably north of $50 based on a full reading of the content.

Most of this letter is chit chat about letter writing and travel plans. But he does mention local grain prices for wheat, oats, and corn, and the output from his 19 acres. He started writing in Beaver Dam, but finished it in Milwaukee while on the move. Not bad for Wisconsin Territory.

While the letter is datelined Beaver Dam, the cancel appears to be Milwaukee. In any event, a nice Wisconsin Territorial.

Very unlikely on ebay the postmarks are not clear the front of the cover looks fairly worn and the contents are not that great. The stampless catalog prices are from 1997 and the stampless market has dropped considerably on ebay over the years, I am a big dealer of letters so per my previous reply to this post it would be worth in auction 0.99 - $20. It may have done better with clearer postmarks

duncanvr, we have not seen the second page, nor the signature - upon which condition I made my potential estimate, not on the quality of the postmark impression. Please reread my last sentence carefully. I would gladly bid $25 for such a cover on ebay without even seeing the second page - the social history drives the price, just like your dental letter a few weeks ago which went for more than the stamp value.

Interesting you would bid $25 without seeing the second page I would want to see who signed it and rest of contents. I sold a good Constantine Michigan one today for only $23 much better than this one so can't see this one going much higher than that. It would be good if the op can show us the last page. Yes social history drives the price if there is something interesting in the contents but this one from what we can see of the first page seems to be social chit chat content so thats why I doubt it would go much higher

A bit of historical information: It would appear that the addressee of the cover, Obed Taylor (1799-1853) of Dexter, Michigan was a builder of cobblestone houses, at least based on this text:




http://aaobserver.aadl.org/aaobserver/13036

Wow. Thank you all very much for the information. I don't think I will be selling this at any time soon. Had it been worth more I might have been tempted. Here is the second page though if anyone is interested.

For the record, where the hole appears in the paper seems to be where it was sealed.