Auction Detail

244, 1893 $4 Columbian, single tied by March 5, 1894 Los Angeles duplex to registered cover to Anacortes, Washington, blue three-line Los Angeles registry datestamp, fresh and fine, an attractive $4 Columbian cover (Scott $4,000) Provenance: Barry Schwartz (R.A. Siegel Sale 952, 2008)

C13-15, 1930 65c-$2.60 Graf Zeppelin, complete set tied by "Washington D.C. Apr. 19 2PM 1930" date of issue duplex cancels to 5c Blue airmail entire (UC1) to Chevy Chase, DC, three cachets including "This article made the complete round trip via Graf Zeppelin", backstamped Friedrichschafen May 6 and New York June 18, very fine, a spectacular first day cover of the 1930 Graf Zeppelin issue, even more desirable on an airmail envelope with red and blue border (Scott $10,000)

7LB6, Philadelphia, PA, 1849 1c Black on Rose, portions of all four framelines, uncancelled on 1849 folded letter to New York, blue "Philada. Pa. 5 Aug 6" integral rate datestamp, letter datelined August 4, very fine and rare, Larry Lyons reports 13-14 covers in his July 2006 census (Penny Post Vol. 13, No. 3), 2022 Philatelic Foundation certificate (Scott $500)

15L1, Philadelphia Despatch Post, 1842 3c Red, octagonal margins, red "Paid" and large "3" with manuscript "R&Co", tied by red "Philadelphia Pa. Apr 20" datestamp on 1843 folded letter to New York, mansucript "12½" rate, extremely fine and especially desirable with the stamp tied by such a crisp datestamp, just 14 covers recorded by Dr. Vernon Morris with this being the second earliest example, in reviewing the photographic census we believe this to be the finest cover with this stamp in existence, made even more appealing by the fact that it has never appeared at public auction, 2022 Philatelic Foundation certificate (Scott $5,000 for untied on cover, not priced tied) A 2013 Penny Post article Dr. Vernon R. Morris, Jr. (Vol. 21, No. 2) records 14 covers with 15L1, all used between February 15 and November 8, 1843 (R.A. Siegel reports 15 covers). The cover offered here is #2 in Morris's census. Following the British "Penny Black" and Greig's City Despatch Post in New York City, the Philadelphia Despatch Post was only the third entity in the world to issue stamps for the prepayment of postage (15L1, 3c red on bluish, and the earlier 15L2, 3c Black), both of which are extremely scarce. To this end, Morris states that "15L1 participated in the advancement of written communication through specialization and innovation of postal service dedicated and restricted solely to local service in one city." Although primitive in design, the Philadelphia Despatch Post stamps represent an important step in the develpment of the American postal system.

15L5, D.O. Blood & Co., Philadelphia, PA, 1845 (2c) Black, tied by manuscript "X" on local folded cover, "City Despatch D.O. Blood & Co. 2 Cts." double circle handstamp at left, stamp with small margin nick at top from manuscript cancel and cover quite wrinkled, not listed in Dr. Vernon Morris's census of the issue (Penny Post Vol. 22, No. 1) which records only four covers with the stamp tied amongst 54 known examples, fine and rare thus, 2022 Philatelic Foundation certificate erroneously calling the stamp 15L3 (Scott $800 for untied)