Auction Detail

black double oval handstamp on cover to Hartford, 1851 3c Claret, Type II (11A) tied by 1855 "Middletown Ct. 3 Paid Jan 29" datestamp, straightline "Advertised" and tiny "Not Found" handstamps, apparently claimed as this cover was not sent to the Dead Letter Office, the finest of the four known covers bearing the "Hartford Penny Post" handstamp and great local post rarity, very little is known about this operation except that it is believed to have existed between 1852 and 1861

dateline on lengthy folded letter addressed to Paris, France, endorsed "by the Great Western", charged 12½ domestic postage plus 25c freight money fee paid as indicated by Hartford pointing hand, arrived Liverpool May 8 and London May 10, forwarded to Paris with red boxed "Colonies &c.Art.12", arrived Paris May 12 and marked 15 decides due, redirected to Milan via Switzerland, backstamped Milan May 17, very fine and interesting, the only freight money letter originating in Hartford, ex-Winter

red datestamp with matching pointing hand "Paid" on folded letter to Portland, Connecticut, manuscript "5" rate, endorsed "by Portland Stage, Mr. Chapman please for'd to day", fine and interesting

red datestamp and matching pointing hand "Paid" on small intact newspaper wrapper to Oxford, Massachusetts, pencil "1" rate for newspapers over 30 miles, very fine and scarce

blue datestamp on folded letter to Norwich, Connecticut franked with 1847 5c Red brown (1), large margins and attractive early "Chocolate" shade, tied by bold strike of blue "5" stampless rate handstamp with second strike alongside, matching pointing hand "Paid", certificate mentions scoring line which is barely detectable, very fine, one of only nine 1847 issue covers from Hartford with blue postmarks, a beautiful cover with a stellar provenance showing the transitional period between pre-stamp rate handstamps and the issuance of adhesive stamps, ex-Kapiloff, Boker, and Gross, 1974 and 2016 Philatelic Foundation certificates