Post by jamesw on Jun 11, 2016 21:48:38 GMT
I want to revisit a cover I posted in my Niagara covers thread, but want to approach it separately, since you folks have been pretty good at helping me solve some of these old postal rate mysteries.
This little cover I posted back in January has a red postal marking reading CANADA PAID 10Cts.
Jimjung kindly responded 'The 10c rate for a crossborder cover to the USA ran from 1859 to 1868, the first decimal period. I'd say this cover is dated 1867 and not 1857. If it was 1857, it would have been a 6d charge. The last day of the 10c rate was March 31, 1868, just a few months after this letter was sent, when the rate reduced to 6c for mail to the USA.'
With that information I tended to agree with him that the cover may have been posted in 1867, rather than 1857 as the seller had labelled it. Also the 5/6 is only partially inked, so there was doubt.
At a stamp show recently I saw similar covers with the same marking dated 1856, and just today find this example on ebay, also dated 1856.
The dealer I spoke with at the show suggested the 10ยข was a conversion to US postage from Canadian currency, and would be paid at the receiving end, though my cover is stamped in red, I think we are looking at a postage due situation - again in regards to my cover. Or would the US conversion rate been paid in St. Catharines, several miles from the border? Some how I doubt that.
There are no markings of any kind on the back of the envelope.
Any thoughts from you very clever people out there?
This little cover I posted back in January has a red postal marking reading CANADA PAID 10Cts.
Jimjung kindly responded 'The 10c rate for a crossborder cover to the USA ran from 1859 to 1868, the first decimal period. I'd say this cover is dated 1867 and not 1857. If it was 1857, it would have been a 6d charge. The last day of the 10c rate was March 31, 1868, just a few months after this letter was sent, when the rate reduced to 6c for mail to the USA.'
With that information I tended to agree with him that the cover may have been posted in 1867, rather than 1857 as the seller had labelled it. Also the 5/6 is only partially inked, so there was doubt.
At a stamp show recently I saw similar covers with the same marking dated 1856, and just today find this example on ebay, also dated 1856.
[BROKEN IMAGE LINK(S) REMOVED]
The dealer I spoke with at the show suggested the 10ยข was a conversion to US postage from Canadian currency, and would be paid at the receiving end, though my cover is stamped in red, I think we are looking at a postage due situation - again in regards to my cover. Or would the US conversion rate been paid in St. Catharines, several miles from the border? Some how I doubt that.
There are no markings of any kind on the back of the envelope.
Any thoughts from you very clever people out there?
