Show Your Earliest Cover In Your Collection Here.

New York to New Port 1797

Here's my earliest. It's a letter from William Seton and dates from 1790.

He was the father in law of Elizabeth Seton, who would be canonized in 1975, becoming what I believe was the earliest U.S. saint.

Here's the letter:

1793 EKU Hudson, New York, ex Cal Hahn.

I wish I had an example that went back to the 1700s, but my earliest is an 1817 stampless cover from Baltimore. It does have a postmark, though. Does anyone know when circular postmarks first came into use in the U.S.?

Earliest without a stamp (and earliest from this town):


Earliest with a stamp (4 days in):

This is a Venetian "AQ" lettersheet. Some consider these lettersheets to be the first postal stationery but others consider them to fiscal (revenue) items. The lettersheets were used from 1608 until the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, and this is an example of the first variety used from 1608 - 1610.

I have an Italian letter from 1614...

Savannah Ga to Lowell Ma

Wonderful covers Everyone.

Thanks for sharing.

Dianne

This is a letter from a young John Boog, after arriving in the US in July 1798 (letter dated 17 July 1798). Boog went on to be a very large plantation owner in the south, and his history is well documented. This letter is very "up beat" to his parents, who were particularly disappointed with his leaving for America (they lived in Scotland). The letter also traveled on a ship that would later be confiscated by the Spanish, which was a fear mentioned in the letter, but the letter arrived before it was taken.

Cool stuff. Picked this up at World Stamp Expo 2015 in Singapore.

Here's my oldest item, an entire from a Venetian merchant in Chania in Crete to Pera in Constantinople.

It's a long letter written in spidery handwriting on very strong paper, folded into a tiny entire of 7cm by 10cm.

This is a sheet from my collection that I wrote up for a mini-display last year.

The entire is on the right, partially unfolded.

There's a photocopy of a very small part of the letter at the bottom left.

I have had this cover for many years and came across it the other day again and have questions as too whether this is a 321 Coil Pair????
Any help would be great.

My earliest folded letter is official US Post Office Business. The outer wrapper of the letter:



It was sent by Joseph Habersham, the Postmaster General of the General Post Office, or what we now call the Post Office Department.

It is addressed to a Mr. ---- Selhurst. Dated on the inside for July 16, 1798, it has no postal markings because it was enclosed in a separate letter to the then current New Germantown NJ postmaster, Walter R. Cole, who had announced his intention to resign.

The following letter copy is extracted from the Postmaster General's Letter Book for the years 1798-1799, found on the US Philatelic Classics Society website, and notes that my letter was sent to Selhurst as an enclosure within the letter to Cole. [I assume the original of this Cole letter did not survive.]





The contents of my letter is a part-printed form advising the addressee -- Selhurst -- that he is to be appointed as the new Postmaster at New Germantown, NJ:




Although not sent with this letter, here is the Postmaster Commission for Selhurst sent shortly thereafter:



An uncommon combination of items.

My oldest cover, from my collection of free-franked stampless covers from the founding of the country until 1873 when the Department Official stamps (O-series in Scott catalog) replaced the free franking privilege.

Wow, first let me say there are some impressive and beautiful letters on this thread. Hope I can live up to them.
This is the US category, so I'll show this.
Written in 1810 in Coppet Switzerland by the son of French novelist and Napoleon antagonist, Anne Louise Germaine de Stael-Holstein to her creditors in New York. It travelled, no doubt by favour to Norfolk VA where on February 5 it received a postmark and made its way to NYC





But since others are showing their 'ferrin' examples as well, this is my oldest letter.
1764 London to Edinburgh. It sports a Bishops Mark on the back

Wow, just ogling over these old covers. Don't have any myself yet, but would love to start a collection. Any places in particular that have stamp covers of similar dates? I haven't see anything past the 1800's on ebay...