Closed Auction

lot # 1 - United States 19th Century Stamps and Postal History Postmasters Provisionals

Thursday Jun 24, 2021 10:00 America/New_York

7X1, Millbury, MA, 1846 5c Black on bluish, single with typical tight margins (clear at top and right), tied by red straightline "Paid" to blue folded letter to Worcester, Massachusetts, red "Milbury Ms. Aug 21" cds and matching circled "V" handstamp, stamp with tiny scuffs in background lines to the right of Washington's head (present since before Philip T. Wall first illustrated this cover in the Chronicle in 1984), still Extremely Fine and attractive, one of only eight covers recorded bearing the famed woodcut provisional of Millbury, this being the earliest known use (a distinction it shares with one other cover) and, significantly, a cover which has never appeared on the market before, having been bought privately for Mr. Haub, an incredible showpiece of the highest order (Scott $350,000)

The history of the Millbury, Massachusetts (the proper spelling has two "L"s, despite what the postmark on the cover says) was first told by Philip T. Wall in the Chronicle in the mid-1980s, and greatly expanded upon by Robert A. Siegel Auctions, who maintain an active census of the stamp (this being 7X1-COV-12). As Mr. Wall tells the story, "The first two covers that came to light were discovered in the correspondence of Isaac Davis who left the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass., some 15 volumes of his papers and correspondence when he died in 1885. Davis had been a leading attorney in Worcester in the 1840s. These two covers traveled a distance of only 8 to 10 miles."

The first of these covers, postmarked December 16, was deaccessioned by the American Antiquarian Society in 1895. It was then owned by Sir William B. Avery, Henry J. Duveen, Alfred H. Caspary, and Arthur Hetherington, the latter two of whom sold the stamp through H.R. Harmer in 1955 and 1983, respectively. The other cover remained in the possession of the American Antiquarian Society for nearly another century.

At the 1989 Weill Brother's sale at Christie's, the December 16 Isaac Davis cover was sold. John R. Boker, Jr. was bidding for Erivan Haub, and upon losing the Weills' cover, contacted the American Antiquarian Society within a year or two to make them an offer on the remaining (August 21) cover. Since the early 1990s this cover has resided in Germany and has therefore never been offered publicly for sale.

In terms of United States Postmasters' Provisionals, the Millbury provisional occupies a unique position between the ornate designs of the New York and St. Louis stamps and the crude, makeshift stamps of Lockport and Boscawen. It is one of two provisionals to depict a person, but its woodcut design is obviously miles below the beautifully engraved New York stamp's portrait of George Washington. The Millbury has all of the charms of a "primitive" while still remaining instantly recognizable as a postage stamp. We believe that this cover's long-overdue appearance at public auction represents the beginning of a new chapter for a cover which spent the first century and a half of life locked away.

United States Postmasters' Provisionals

About The Seller

H.R. Harmer

H.R. Harmer was founded in 1918 by Henry Revell Harmer of London. In 1940, the firm opened its New York auction gallery and quickly ascended to the top ranks of philatelic auction houses... Read More

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