Show Your 1851-61 Era Cancellations And Postal Markings

@philazilla - the black grid killers on your cover appear to match the standard New Orleans grid killer of that period - which was often black coincident with the red CDS.

It is a common enough occurrence to have overlapping covers or paper partly obscuring a region that, therefore, only gets a partial postmark.

Off-hand, I don't see any problem with your cover.

edit: the fact that your 11A on the cover is plate 1L is another good sign, as for 12/51, if I recall correctly, that was the only active #11/11A plate.

Thanks TX. The color of the 11A is also a good sign - it is a good match for my "1852 Bright Brownish Carmine" references - that color is the next color for the 3¢ Washington after the Orange Browns (and on a 1L stamp, it cannot be 1856 Brownish Carmine).

One possibility for the half-strike of the grid would be a "puffy" stuffed envelope. This cover weighed between 1 and 1.5 ounces which is 5-7 sheets of modern 8.5x11 sheets stuffed into that small (by today's standards) envelope. Or is the most likely explanation something coming between the canceling device and cover?

To build on a snippet of the previous reply..


Reasonable explanations are often quite simple and innocent as clerks did their jobs. I can see the sender (knowing this was a weighty envelope) applying two stamps to the envelope's corner at home and then visiting the PO where the clerk advised the need for another stamp which was purchased at the counter and applied in the next logical position ... and obviously from another pane. And weight/thickness which gives a logical explanation to the partial killer strikes as already noted.

Thanks Dutch, TX, and John. I have another interesting one - a NYFM to Australia - apparently one of 5 known. . .here is my write up:

1861 33¢ Rate to Australia via Southampton – New York Foreign Mail
Folded letter franked with 3¢ dull red (#26) and three 10¢ green (#35), cancelled by New York Foreign Mail grid NYFM 58-06-16-GR, paying the 33¢ British mail rate to Sydney, New South Wales. Manuscript "via Southampton" endorsement and "33" rate marking, along with magenta manuscript "12" denoting 12 pence (1 shilling) due on arrival. Reverse shows faint red NEW YORK MAR 9 (Exchange Office) and London (22 Mar) transit handstamps, plus bold SHIP LETTER / SYDNEY A / JU12 / 1861 arrival.

Carried by Inman Line Edinburgh from New York (9 Mar) to Liverpool (21 Mar), then via London (22 Mar). Missing the March P&O sailing, it was held for the 20 Apr departure of the Indus to Alexandria (4 May), sent overland to Suez, and continued by P&O Candia (5 May) via Galle, Ceylon, to Sydney (12 Jun). Had the sender paid the additional postage for the faster Marseille route, the cover would have reached Sydney nearly a month earlier.

Only five New York Foreign Mail covers are recorded to Australia. Ex-Kirke.
...
The routing details came from correspondence between Dale Forster and Nick Kirke that came with the cover. (I do not know who Dale Forster is)




I think I got the details right on this one, but would be curious if others see anything I got wrong or missed.

Dale Forster sold his collection of Australian-United States Mails through Rumsey Auctions about 5 years ago
https://www.rumseyauctions.com/auctions/sale/93

Thanks for the link to the Forster sale! I looked through it to see if my cover (or similar ones) were in this sale - it is not. Looking at the covers in this sale, I think the manuscript "12" may be a credit rating (to the US? Great Britain?) rather than an Australia-internal rating. Does anyone know?

Correct - the 12 is in cents, and indicates this went via American packet from US->GB.
If it had gone via British packet it would have been a 28 cent credit.

Your cover is in good company. I saw these two in the Rumsey catalog, also from "the Hogan correspondence". The 90c realized $24,000. I don't know who is William Hogan Jr. but it might be worth a little research to find out, as it may add some interesting color to your writeup depending on who he was.


Here is a bio about the c/o James H. Williams esq. and connection to Wilkinson Bros.
https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wi...artwell-4857

The 66c and $1.32 rates on those covers are 2X and 4X rates. Nice usages.

I'm assuming the 90c cover is still on the old rate scale I am familiar with (I mostly stop around 1861) and that it hadn't yet changed.

The 66c rate cover definitely is a 2X, and the 56c credit is 2x28c for a Cunard packet to the UK.

Very interesting - thanks for the info. I did not find anything on Hogan in a brief search, but your link on Williams adds interest. . .I updated my write up:

1861 to Australia via Southampton – New York Foreign Mail

33¢ rate cover from New York City to Sydney, Australia, franked with 3¢ and three 10¢ 1857s (Scott #26, #35), cancelled by New York Foreign Mail grid (Weiss 58-06-16-GR), paying the 33¢ British Mail treaty rate via Southampton. Manuscript "via Southampton" routing, "33" rate marking, and magenta "12" U.S. credit to Great Britain (indicating carriage by American packet rather than British). Reverse shows faint red NEW YORK MAR 9 (Exchange Office) and London (22 Mar) transit handstamps, plus SHIP LETTER / SYDNEY A / JU12 / 1861 arrival.

Carried by Inman Line Edinburgh from New York (9 Mar) to Liverpool (21 Mar), then via London (22 Mar). Missing the March sailing, it was held for the 20 Apr departure of the Indus of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) to Alexandria (4 May), sent overland to Suez, and continued by P&O Candia (5 May) via Galle, Ceylon, to Sydney, NSW (12 Jun 1861). Had the sender paid the additional postage for the faster Marseille route, the cover would have reached Sydney nearly a month earlier. Addressed to William Hogan, care of James H. Williams, the long-serving U.S. Consul in Sydney who frequently acted as a receiving agent for Americans abroad.

Only five New York Foreign Mail covers are recorded to Australia. Ex-Kirke.

Very nice.

Just to be clear, for the casual reader, for a cover to get a New York foreign mail killer, the letter typically has to enter the mails in NYC.

There are numerous covers to Australia known that did not originate in NYC.

Any or all are nice to get; the NYFM is quite cool.

I love this negative cancel, but I don't find it in Simpson's or anywhere else - does anyone know where this one is from? (Stamp is a Type III #26)

Hi Philazilla --

Love that cancel -- very striking!

Not much help on figuring this one -- but FYI -- not sure if we duplicated efforts -- but in addition to your checking Simpson's -- I also checked the following -- all to no avail:

-- Jim Forte USPO data base -- string search with the letters PPE -- returned 416 possibles! Was hoping it might have filtered it down to a more manageable number -- but alas -- it did not.

-- American Stampless Cover Catalogue -- all 3 volumes -- looking for a double circle, negative cancel. Only a very few with this general design -- and none even close.

-- Ashbrook's work on the 1c blues of 1851 – 1860 -- volume 2 is centered on cancellations and usages -- no luck here either.

Only thing I did not check was Remele and Towle for a possible railroad cancel -- although I think that is unlikely -- but you never know?

Hopefully somebody will be able to help you out on this one.

Regards // ioagoa

Very pretty cancel. Would love to see a cover. There are a few towns that end in PPE (Weippe Idaho, Lippe Indiana, Jemappe Virginia, but I found only one (or three depending on how you count them) "Trappe" that had a post office in 1851, according to Jim Forte's list.

Maryland
Somerset County
Upper Trappe (1849-1875)

Maryland
Talbot County
Trappe (1813-Date)

Pennsylvania
Montgomery County
Trappe (1832-1929)

Could not find any relevant cancels anywhere though.

Thanks for the insights - This stamp was likely used between 1857 and 1861. It definitely could be a route postmark. I do not have a copy of Remele, Towle or Milgram (for waterways) to check.