Really Old Envelopes...1842, 48 & 67

No postage...



and 1867

WOW!!
first three.. no stamps paid in money most likely..

4th 1 with stamp.. I want a shot at that..

check the perfs on that stamp is it 15?

Yeah, I am not sure it is quite correct to say that the first three are without postage. Just without a postage stamp. I agree with SV on the last one. It's a drooler.

yeah, I said no stamp... it does have postage.. that is apparent..

oh I think the first one is 2.5 cents.. not 25...

The first three are usually called "stampless covers", but are still highly collectable. There are publications out there about them. I like the Baltimore one and have seen a variety of handstamps for the "5" used in Baltimore which are usually blue. The first one is 25 cents to cover the longer distance it traveled. I would presume all three of the first ones unfold and have messages written inside which could also be of interest.
Will

I reckon they are absolutely gorgeous,
funny that,
I am a stamp collector, yet the highest prize
is a cover without them.

You are one lucky gal.

Should I be thinking "Provisional Postage" here? That would be very nice.

Yes, the stamped envelope has perf 15... at least I'm pretty certain it is.
I'm learning pretty quickly, but this would be when the gauge used and the perfs line up and they all match
and you end up with tiny little holes?

So, you probably don't want to see those stamps not on a cover? There are more. Some imperf too.

Thanks... Anyway, I opened, gingerly, the top two covers... and was amazed to find it just a folded sheet of paper, and residual sealing wax on the back.
First was letter to a cousin and when I get time I'll scan them in and post them.
Second was letter of documentation to court needed to accompany shipment of what I think was a car wheel?
Amazing how much better their penmanship was then... and that it's still so difficult to read.
Paper is, after all this time, still in beautiful shape.

I was going to mention that, (then decided against it, harbouring thoughts of rabbiting on about nothing)
The third entire down has beautiful script.

My son has very appealing longhand, and has since grade 6
primary, I guess one is just born with that special gift,
my handwriting would be in the "dog's breakfast" genre.

bfranton, the stampless covers are not provisionals. Assuming you may be thinking of postmaster's provisionals. The provisionals were either actual privately printed stamps, or in some cases handstamps applied to the envelope (or cover formed by folding the sheets of paper). See the section in Scott Specialized just preceding the postal issues of the US gov't. A couple of them are among the great rarities in US collecting. I think the NY postmasters provisional may be reasonably affordable (price in the hundreds and not thousands).

The stamp on the last cover looks to be Scott 65.

Another nifty thing you see on a lot of these older covers is that the sender would often hand write the date they sent the letter - as if they didn't trust the post office.

Edit: Actually I've assumed it was the sender - could have been the receiver, I suppose.

rohumpy... it could be a 65, but it could be a 83 or 82.. depending grill/no grill etc..
Don't know why I asked if it was perfed 15...