Auction Detail
March United States Postal History
Featuring The Leonard Piszkiewicz Collection of Chicago Postal History, The Van Koppersmith Collection of Philadelphia Postal History and The Tony Dewey Collection of Hartford Postal History
- (-) Remove The Leonard Piszkiewicz Collection of Chicago Postal History filter The Leonard Piszkiewicz Collection of Chicago Postal History
20 covers, variety of different datestamps and rate markings, mixed quality but many strikes and covers fine or better, an interesting group
small group of ten folded letter and covers including: January 7 A-1 postmark on 1836 folded letter, April 21 A-1 postmark in black with straight-line “Paid” on 1840 folded letter, April 17 A-2 postmark in blue on 1842 folded letter, August 26 A-3 postmark in red with straight-line “Paid” on 1844 folded letter to John T. Haight, September 7 A-3 postmark in red with cog” “5” on 1848 folded letter from J.B.F. Russell, September 11 A-3 postmark in red with cog “10” on 1849 folded letter from Larrabee & Williams, February 18 A-4 postmark in red with cog “10” on 1851 printed bank form, February 22 A-4 postmark in black with red “Paid 3” on cover to New York, September 5 AN-1 postmark in red, and September 29 AN-2 postmark in blue on 1853 cover, mostly fine to very fine strikes, an interesting group with worthwhile contents for the Chicago postal historian
approximately 156 covers and folded letters in two binders, highlights too numerous to mention everything but we note (in roughly chronological order): 1834 folded letter to Boston, 1838 "Sept" four-letter month postmark (very few known), 1838 folded letter from future Mayor B.W. Raymond, 1839 folded letter to Scotland, 1839 folded letter to Lower Canada, 1842 folded letter written by William Larrabee for William Butler Ogden, 1845 folded letter to New York sent part paid, 1845 turned cover, 1846 folded letter from R.K. Swift (promoter of E.W. Hadley's private perforations), 1848 red "2" drop letter handstamp, 1849 latest known use of postmark A-4a, 1855 24c rate to England, various "3 Paid" datestamps, 9c, 15c, and 21c rate markings, 1858 stampless cover to Germany, free franks from Isaac Newton Arnold, Walter Atwood Burleigh, and incoming cover to Justin Smith Morrill, and much more, some small faults but generally fine to very fine, a collection that must be viewed to be fully appreciated as it represents a lifetime of work and would be impossible to duplicate, an extraordinary opportunity for the dedicated postal historian
single with mostly full margins and large sheet margin at left, cancelled with red grid and tied by "5" in cogwheel, matching "Chicago Ill. Dec 1" datestamp (A-4a) on 1849 folded lettersheet to Springfield, Illinois, very fine, this postmark was only in use from November 1849 through January 1850
four full margins, tied by red grid to cover to New York City, matching "Chicago Ill. Nov 28" datestamp, 1850 docketing, manuscript "Due 5", small faults including ink erosion and even overall toning, fine appearance, 1976 Philatelic Foundation certificate
single with unofficial Chicago perforations measuring 12½, tied by "Chicago Ill. Jan 21 1857" datestamp to cover to Shelbyville, Illinois, stamp with small faults including both lefthand corners damaged before application, otherwise fine appearance, the so-called "Chicago perforations" were created by Elijah W. Hadley, the entire history of this stamp can be found in articles by Jerome Wagshall and Wilson Hulme (Chronicle Vol. 38, No. 2 and Vol. 49, No. 2-3), 1984 Philatelic Foundation certificate
whimsical design on reverse of cover to Dubuque, Iowa, franked with 1851 3c Dull red (11) tied by "Chicago Ill. Apr 2 1857" datestamp, small backflap tears, very fine appearance, Blanchard was a prominent early publisher in Chicago, the same year this cover was sent he produced Chicago's first street guide
beautiful illustrated design in blue on cover to Mattoon, Illinois, 1861 3c Rose (65) tied by blue "Chicago Ill Jan 14 1863" datestamp and target, very fine and attractive
blue datestamp duplexed with target ties 1861 1c Blue and 3c Rose (63, 65) to cover to "Mr. Frank Fischer, Co. F 26th Reg. Wis. Vol., Washington, Dis Col", stamps and cover small faults, fine appearance, a rare to-the-mails carrier use with perhaps only a dozen examples known
blue duplex on 1c Blue star die entire to Port Hope, Canada, sent via closed bag from Chicago exchange office to Toronto where a black "1ct" rate handstamp was applied, "Port Hope C.W. Sp 30 62" backstamp, very fine, illustrated in the Chronicle (Vol. 50, No. 4, page 312)
double circle datestamp duplexed with circle of wedges ties pair of 1861 3c Rose (65) to cover to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, cornercard for "U.S. Sanitary Commission", faults along top edge, still fine strike, one of two recorded covers with the letter "U" datestamp (the other of which we recently sold in the Challenger Collection), Piszkiewicz believes this initial stands for "Union Station" and was quickly replaced by the letter "X"
includes 17 "RA" covers (Randolph Street Station), 7 "SB" covers (South Bound), 6 "X" covers (Union Depot), and 3 "GA" covers (Galena Depot), some mixed condition but plenty of fine to very fine strikes, see Piszkiewicz Chapter 6 for further discussion of these interesting cancellations