The William H. Gross Collection: United States Postal History continued...

2¢ Brown (157), horizontal pair and single, cancelled by circle of small wedges and tied by "U.S. Postal Agc'y Shanghai, Dec. 13" (ca. 1875) circular datestamp on cover to Chicago, neat "San Francisco Cal. Jan. 25" transit datestamp, blue "Chicago Ill. Carrier CA2 Feb. 2" backstamp, left stamp with small margin tear at right, small sealed tear at bottom of cover, Very Fine, a beautiful cover from the U.S. Postal Agency in Shanghai, overpaying the 5¢ U.P.U. rate by 1¢, ex Drucker (Image)

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5¢ Yellow Brown (205), choice centering, crisp shade, tied by grid cancel, purple "U.S. Postal Agency * Shanghai * 9 Nov. 1888" double-oval datestamp on cover to New York City street address, December 8 receiving backstamp, Extremely Fine and beautiful in every respect, ex Drucker (Image)

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90¢ Rose Carmine (166), used with 10¢ Brown (161) and 5¢ Blue (185), well-tied by double-struck "Tarrytown N.Y Jan. 15, 1891" duplex datestamp and oval grid cancel on registered cover to Prof. Charles Becker at 168 East 82nd Street in New York City, purple "17382" registry handstamp, bold purple "S" backstamp and sender's notation "Please register the letter"

Very Fine; 5¢ with slightly rounded corner at top left, 10¢ with bit of gum residue at left.

An outstanding example of the 90¢ 1873 Continental Bank Note Company Issue used with two other Continental and American Bank Note Company stamps on a small cover. This is a unique three-color combination of Scott 166, and the cover is easily the finest among the few known examples of the 90¢ Continental used on cover. Another cover to this addressee with the 90¢ 1888 Issue is offered in lot 543.

The population of 90¢ National and Continental Bank Note Company covers is quite small. For the 90¢ ungrilled National Issue (Scott 155) there are only three recorded covers--one is the famous "Consolidated Coal" Co. cover to Rio de Janeiro, and the other two are large-size courthouse covers mailed domestically. There are no recorded examples of the grilled issue (Scott 144) on cover. For the 90¢ Continental (Scott 166), there are probably fewer than 10 covers extant (Linn's U.S. Stamp Facts states fewer than 20, but based on our auction records of the past 30 years we believe the population is much smaller). Most are either large-format envelopes or wrappers and/or have significant faults. This three-color franking on a small cover is by far the finest we have encountered.

Ex William O. Bilden and from our 1996 Rarities sale. (Image)

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Get Market Data for [United States 166, 161, 185]

90¢ Carmine (191), bright color, straight edge at right, couple sealed tears at left into design, tied by bold strike of "Boston Mass." oval cancel, purple framed "Boston, Mass. Feb. 16, 1888 Reg. No." registry datestamp with pencil "13478" registry number (crossed out) on legal-size cover to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, sender's ship-name directive "Per S. S. Advance", New York registry label, "New York, N.Y. Reg'y Div. 2-17 1888" oval backstamp, blue Rio de Janeiro (March 22) receiving datestamp on back, the stamp pays the 10¢ registry fee plus 16-times the 5¢ Universal Postal Union rate

Very Fine appearance; slightly reduced and opened on two sides.

This is an extremely rare single-stamp franking with the 1879 90¢ American Bank Note Company Issue. Power Search located only two other intact covers with this stamp, and this is the only one with a single stamp. The records of The Philatelic Foundation contain two others, both mixed frankings and both seriously defective.

Ex Emmerson C. Krug and Dr. Alfred Martin. Illustrated in Linn's U.S. Stamp Facts (p. 150). With 1955 P.F. certificate. (Image)

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2¢ Red Brown (210), wide and even margins, rich color, tied by "Fort Keogh Mont. Oct. 1" (1883) First Day circular datestamp and cork cancel on 3¢ Green on Amber entire to Funchal, Madeira Islands, sender's directive "West Africa" clear strike of "Correio Lisboa 20 Nov. 83" transit datestamp on back, oval Funchal receiving datestamp on back (November 22)

Extremely Fine despite a few small cover edge tears at top and small part of top flap missing.

This is without question the most remarkable First Day cover for Scott 210, sent from a fort in Montana Territory to the Portuguese colony of Madeira off the west coast of Africa.

Ex Lawrence Fisher. (Image)

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90¢ Purple (218), used with 30¢ Orange Brown (217), 10¢ Brown (209) and 2¢ Green (213), all tied by three strikes of "New York Jan. 21 91" duplex datestamp and oval cancel on cover to Prof. Charles Becker at 168 East 82nd Street in New York City, receiving backstamp of the same day

Very Fine; cover with pinholes at top left and bottom right corners, 30¢ with tiny perf creasing at top.

This is a rare and exceptionally beautiful example of the 90¢ 1888 American Bank Note Company stamp used on cover. Virtually all other 90¢ Purple covers are package fronts or large covers. This is believed to be the only known example of this stamp on a small-size envelope. Another cover to this addressee with the 90¢ 1873 Issue is offered in lot 540.

Ex William O. Bilden. With 1976 P.F. certificate. (Image)

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Get Market Data for [United States 218]