Auction Detail

red datestamp with patching "Paid" on folded letter from Dundas, Upper Canada to Kinross, Scotland, manuscript rate including 4½d Canadian inland postage, 1sh 3d postage to New York City, and 7½d (12½c) freight money fee (totaled to 2sh 3d), carried by Swallowtail Line's George Washington departing New York June 7 and arriving Liverpool June 24, two-line "Liverpool Ship Letter" and London arrival backstamps, manuscript "1/8" due for 8d ship fee plus 1sh inland postage, very fine, one of two recorded freight money letters from Dundas (both from the same correspondence), ex-Winter

red handstamp with manuscript date and framed "Paid" on folded lettersheet to London, England, manuscript "9" rating for Canadian inland postage, "City of Toronto U.C Ap 9 1839" double circle transit datestamp and "Paid 7&25" handstamp (for 7d from Toronto to the border and 25c United States inland to New York), red "New-York Apl 15" exchange datestamp, carried by Kermit Line's Virginia departing New York April 16 and arriving Liverpool May 9, backstamped "Liverpool Ship Letter" and May 10 London arrival, rated "1/7" due for 8d incoming ship fee and 11d British inland, very fine and attractive, Toronto did not mark freight money fees on letters although the 12½c fee was prepaid, ex-Winter

33 items mounted on exhibit pages, begins with 1846 illustrated lettersheet showing her original six-mast design, August 1845 maiden return voyage folded letter from New York to London, 1846 New Orleans to London via New York, August 1852 maiden voyage to Australia folded letter from Worksop to Melbourne with 1sh Green (ex-Ward), November 1852 Melbourne to Sydney with Victoria 2p Yellow brown, January 1853 maiden return voyage Melbourne to England with NSW 3p Sydney View, October 1853 Melbourne to London second return voyage with Victoria 3p Blue (ex-Ashby), November 1853 Sydney to England second return voyage with NSW 3p Queen Victoria, April 1854 London to Sydney franked 1sh underpaying the NSW ship letter rate on scrapped Great Britain voyage (Louis certificate stating that this franking of 1848 10p Brown and two 1854 1p Red is unique), October 1854 Melbourne to Scotland third return voyage with Victoria 1sh Blue (ex-Moreton), October 1854 Melbourne to New Brunswick with Victoria 1sh Blue (ex-Tabeart), May 1857 Sydney to England with two NSW 6p Gray, May 1857 Melbourne to London registered letter with two Victoria 6p Yellow orange and 1sh Rose & blue (ex-Moreton), May 1857 Melbourne to England with Victoria 6p Orange "woodblock" and red "Paid 22 Au 57 Liverpool Ship" handstamp (only used on this voyage), May 1857 Melbourne to Ireland with strip of three Victoria 2p Victoria on Throne, two May 1857 covers from Adelaide to Scotland with South Australia adhesives, May 1861 Victoria to England with Victoria 6p Blue, and more, generally very fine, an extraordinary collection documenting the history of this steamship during her service to both the United States and Australia, replicating this group would be exceedingly difficult 

binder with approximately 88 items mostly written up on exhibit pages, we note 1864 England to New York with "New York Post Office Advertised" and "Cannot be Found" handstamps (ex-Cropp), 1866 Westminster to New York marked "Not Called For" (ex-White), 1875 Dublin to Wisconsin via Boston and New York (ex-Bedell), 1897 England to Philadelphia with five 1p Inland Revenue (accepted for postage), several philatelically-inspired stationery entires, non-British frankings include US two 15c Columbians on cover to Austria, 1872 Toronto to England with 2c and five 6c Small Queens (ex-Montgomery), several Canada 5c Green registry stamps, also Newfoundland and Mexico, generally fine to very fine, an interesting and attractive group that wonderfully illustrates the evolution of transatlantic registered mail over the course of the late 19th Century

approximately 90 covers on exhibit pages, the vast majority of which are Cunard Line but some earlier ships as well, couple of cross-border covers, some early 20th Century material but the primary interest and value lies in the middle of the 19th Century, generally fine to fine, many provenances including ex-Tabeart, White, Montgomery, Boettger, and Needs