RARE "Alexandrie" MARK ON POSTALLY CHARGED PRIVATE LETTER TO...

Hammer

£750

RARE "Alexandrie" MARK ON POSTALLY CHARGED PRIVATE LETTER TO ROSETTA; 29 March 1800 EL (minor creasing and slight toning) from Charles Louis Balzac (a member of the Commission des Sciences et Arts) addressed to an architect in Rosetta, inviting him to take part in a voyage to 'Saïde' - presumably as part of Napoléon's grand 'Survey of Egypt'; charged '4' [decimes] to Rosetta with a very fine strike of the rare upper-and-lower-case "Alexandrie" mark (recorded only July 1799 to Oct. 1800) nicely placed on the front. This was the only town during the Napoleonic Occupation of Egypt to use the mixed type mark, and it is particularly rare on a private letter. [Ex John Firebrace - Cavendish May 2001 lot 1061 realised £1,430 - illustrated in his "19th Ce. Wars", p.17.]Cross Reference: MILITARY - NAPOLEONIC WAR, EGYPT, FRANCE