2 Covers/Envelopes From 1891? One With Possible Variation?

Really cool writing on the first one, sent to the "Commissioner of Agriculture" in Washington DC. Something seems off/variable with the 3 cent stamp being filled in green like that...very heavily embossed.

Can't make out who the second one is addressed to, I think a bank but easy to see the Saint Paul overmark.

Does anyone have an estimated valuation for something like this/is it even worth anything?

Thanks.

The recipient is William Gates Le Duc 1823-1917

From this link http://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/01177.xml it appears he was US Commissioner of Agriculture from 1877 to 1881.

The second cover is from when he was appointed receiver of the Peoples National Bank of Fayetteville, North Carolina. This occurred on January 20, 1891 https://books.google.com/books?id=0...ille&f=false

When a national bank went into receivership the government appointed a person to oversee the bank's affairs. Most of the time when a bank went into receivership its assets were liquidated and the dividends paid to creditors.

Here's a photo of a note issued by the bank sold by Heritage back in 2011 http://currency.ha.com/itm/national...tion-071515#

I can't help with a valuation. I do think the second one is neat as I collect national bank notes.

-MV

Barring any postal history premium, your two envelopes catalog $2.25 for the first one (U163) and $.25 for the second (U311).

[assuming both are on white paper]

The one that is filled in with the green markings appears to be one of two possibilities - 1} if the areas that have the extra coloring are the high point of the embossing then it was likely rubbed across a dirty surface such as a desk top or whatever and some of the dirt or whatever was on the surface rubbed off onto the high points of the embossed image. A second possibility was someone was bored one day and decided to doodle by doing a little coloring in on the image.

The values mentioned are catalog values for examples in very nice condition. Given the wear and minor issues with these two, especially the one with the "colored in" areas, along with the general retail values being small percentages of catalog values, both of these are basically things that are fun to have rather than things that would bring much, if any, retail value if they were to be sold.