Clueless On Stampless

Catchy title,huh? Need some advice here, as I said I'm clueless about this cover, I do know that it was paid 3c, from Harrisburg, Pa. Jan 12st, 1858, but beyond that???? First, What does that endorsement say? I get Marse??? Senate. Is that a state senate, or something higher up? I also wonder how many times someone has tried to sell it a a green postmark? What does a cover like this go for? Condition is real good, a coulpe of little corner bumps, and its been hinged. No contents, but the wax? seal on the back also has the word Senate in it. I'll show a scan of the front, and the back. Then a close up of the endorsement and a close up of the seal.

The cover was written by Senator Isaac N. Marselis, who served as a Pennsylvania State Senator for the district composed of the City of Philadelphia from 1857-1860:



Here's a connection between Senator Marselis and the addressee, George M. Wharton, who both served on the Select Council of the 23rd Ward of Philadelphia in 1857:

Based on the postmarks alone, the American Stampless Cover Catalog lists this cover at $15. Other factors will of course increase/decrease value.

And of course the postmark is Harrisburg which is the State capital so it makes sense that a Pennsylvania State Senator mailed it from there.

Apparently the free franking did not apply to this letter since it is marked as having had 3 cents paid which was the domestic rate for a letter under a half ounce.

As to value I would think that the number already mentioned of $15 would be a full price, though it may be difficult to get that unless you had someone looking for something like this specifically. State Senators don't really get you very much unless they later went on to become famous at the national level and apparently Mr. Marselis did not.

ASCC is actually $10, which I would view as the right price for this cover (many stampless covers sell for over ASCC prices, as the last edition of the catalog was published in 1997). It's of some interest due to the late use as a stampless; generally speaking prepayment with stamps was required effective Jan 1 1856. The senate endorsement was probably used as an accounting mechanism; a state official did not have the franking privilege. The wax seal is a neat touch but I would not view it as adding value.

I have the 1985 fourth edition thus the difference in catalog value so it dropped a bit.

Thank you all for your explainations. Interesting.

I haven't come up with any biography of the sender, but as for the addressee of the cover "George M. Wharton, Esq.", here's his biography:

It is in very nice condition. A retail dealer at a show would price it at full ASCC value - or higher if he thought he had a ready specialist buyer.

I wish they would update that catalog. Nice cover and research!

The cover is being auctioned at mylittleauctions.com. It could be yours :)

http://www.my-little-auctions.com/a...on_id=100276

I have two covers from PA with free franks but there is also a "paid 5" marking. I left the wrtie up from both with the price I paid. Both have letters enclosed.

The first is from Governor Johnston.







The second cover is from Senator Crabb.

A picture of the addressee of the first cover, Reverend J(oseph) A(lexander) Murray, D.D., is shown below:



For anyone interested, there's an extensive "biographical sketch" of Rev. J.A. Murray that extends for several pages. It is much too lengthy to post here, so I provide the link below (starting with page viii):

https://archive.org/stream/contribu...n15/mode/2up