3 Pairs Scott # 11 On 1855 Letter To Paris

got this one in the mail today.

this is what I think has happened, but I am no expert in routes etc, so please correct me if wrong

letter written on 25 and sent on sept 26th from new orleans.
passed New York and recieved the red pauket marking on okt 8th
arrived uk on 15th (markings on back and front) and in Calais france 16th (marked on back)

written by, I think, T. Bailly-Blanchard Jr. to his father in france, just a few days before his son, Arthur Bailly-Blanchard (October 1, 1855 - August 25, 1925) sometimes written Arthur Bailey-Blanchard was an American diplomat. He was the American ambassador to Haiti from 1914 to 1921, was born. letter is in french, hope someone with knowledge of French can find a part stating the baby is due?

a pen 8 on front for postage due in France.


i have a question, 6X3=18 paid...but as far as I can find the fee was higher? how is this possible? or no inland charge because of originating in New Orleans?

for the #11 lovers pair on left is gash on shoulder

I had heard that transatlantic mail was running late but didn't realize quite how bad things were.

On a more serious note, that is a beautiful cover. Congratulations

RCX, brilliant! it did take over 3 weeks to get here ;-)

This was carried on the Collins line steamer "Baltic" which departed NYC on October 3. It arrived in Liverpool on Oct 14, and from there the letter was routed to Paris.

The Collins line was an American owned steamship company, and this is before the US-French treaty, so 21c would have been the required payment here. France marked it 8 decimes due, as a single rate letter via American Packet.

It appears to have been accepted so either there is a 3c stamp missing, as you suspect, or possibly the remainder was paid in cash? I don't see any obvious spot where a stamp fell off, but it could have happened.

There is no obvious indication that it was not treated as fully paid. In fact the NYC transit marking in "red" typically implies that it was pre-paid and a credit was due to Britain. If it were an unpaid letter, the marking would be a debit in black.

The Collins line, in 1855 got a lot of the mail that the Cunard line would have otherwise carried, due to the Crimean war, for which, the British ships got re-purposed.

I think I do vaguely see the gash on shoulder which would be the C relief on the 3c stamp. That, combined with the right stamp in the pair having an apparent guide dot at top-right tells me that the pair on the left is likely a top row pair.

It appears to me that a 3c stamp that has fallen off at left top edge of cover (placed horizontally maybe). It was prepaid for the 21c rate by American Packet when it was sent and when it transited NYC and probably when it arrived in France.

Richard, I agree, good catch. I wasn't thinking "horizontally".

thank you ll for your comments. love the info on what ship ...adds a nice bit of extra info for me

richard, I looked after your comment and found , what I believe to be, some gum left of the cover, what for me 100% validates your explanation.

a pity, not complete, personally still really like it but I guess the value just plummeted ;-(