US 1854 Postage Due - 8 Cent Rate?

Hi,

I recently purchased this cover, and it has been puzzling me ever since I bought it as to why it should have a 5 cent postage due marking on it.

My current US rates book does not go this early. Does anyone know why this was postage due for five cents?

In 1850 ...
First Class Rate Not over 300 miles, per ½ oz.: 5 cents.
Collect: 5 cents. Over 300 miles, per ½ oz.: 10 cents.
Collect: 10 cents. Drop letters: 2 cents.

There is a US postage rate tool on Stamp Smarter

Don
APS #094826

So according to the excellent postal rate calculator you have, the most likely year would have been 1852.

Rate Up to 3000 miles, per ½ oz.: 3 cents. Collect: 5 cents. Over 3000 miles, per ½ oz.: 6 cents. Collect: 10 cents. Drop letters: 2 cents

Am I correct in thinking that the five cents was due because the cover was heavier than 0.5 ounces?

smauggie,
Certainly sounds feasible.
Don

Thanks Don.

Let's get the date range corrected:
June 30, 1851 - Mar 31, 1855. This is during a period when the POD was trying to wean the public into prepaying postage by having a rate discount for prepayment.
The 1850 rate data does not apply to this cover.

I cannot tell whether the month is January (which would make possible years of 1852, 1853, 1854, or 1855) or June (which would make possible years of 1852, 1853, or 1854.) Smauggie, why lean toward 1852 rather than the later years? I realize that detailed examination of the stamp for plate/color may help narrow down the year considerably.

Yes the rates which apply to your cover are:
3 cent prepaid, 5 cents collect
per half ounce, up to 3000 miles

This is a clearly a double-weight cover, charged due for the second weight increment. One can also find these on single-weight covers charged an extra 5 cents during this era for forwarding - before free forwarding was provided.

Here is another half-paid, double-weight example from the 1851-1855 era, from Illinois to New Hampshire, a clue to being overweight is only 1 trip through the mail.




And a forwarded example from Hagerstown, MD to Philadelphia, PA to Indianapolis, IN. Single-weight, 3 cents paid for the first leg, 5 cents collect for the forwarding. (The "Missent" marking would be more appropriate if it read "Misaddressed by the sender", and is not a postal routing error, which would have been sent on for free as their mistake.)

John, thanks for the information. I am pretty sure the month is June. I am not particularly attracted to 1852 as the year and in fact as this is a #11 and not a #10. I simply chose 1852 as it was the first year in the Stamp Smarter Postal Rate calculator that made sense for my cover.

I was simply trying to feel my way through the Stamp Smarter Postal Ratings calculator and was not trying to make any definitive statements. Take it easy on me who am just trying to understand.

Nice covers.

Smauggie. No problem - I wish these posts could convey tone better. I'll bet if you post a close-up scan of the just the stamp that the 10/11 experts will tell us more, but sometimes a date range is all that is possible.

Here is the stamp.

The field of the stamp almost seems like red velvet.



I figured out the date of the cover, January 6, 1854.