1851, 3¢, Rarest Cover
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The rarest 3¢
1851 cover that has come
to my attention bears a pair of the imperforate 3¢ stamps tied to
the upper left corner of the envelope from San Francisco to New
Bedford,
Mass. It was formerly in the great Worthington collection,
and when
the collection was sold at auction in December, 1917, this cover
brought
$6,100. Today it reposes in the collection of A. H. Caspary,
of New
York, and he has good reason to be proud of it.
The letter was originally used from Honolulu, and at San Francisco the pair of 3¢ stamps was added to pay the overland postage to the east. It seems the pair was placed in the upper left corner of the envelope because there was no room on the right side. Some one down in the Hawaiian Islands had prepaid the postage to the States with a 2¢ and 5¢ Missionary, and Mr. Caspary always felt these Hawaiian stamps added some material interest to the cover. As a matter of fact Mr. Worthington thought so, too, when he owned it. -
George B. Sloane
Sloane's Column Stamps October 14, 1935 Posted September 29, 1999 Index of 508 Notes from the Past Note: If the link isn't returned the first try, try again. Comments? Send me an e-mail |