FAIRFIELD (CONN.) - RARE COLONIAL PERIOD "Fd. 4" & "To pay 1...

Hammer

£1,900

FAIRFIELD (CONN.) - RARE COLONIAL PERIOD "Fd. 4" & "To pay 1/-" MARKINGS + RARE "IND. AND PACT./POSTAGE"; 5 Sept. 1774 E (short flap cut and attached to larger flap to show faint "NEW YORK" transit backstamp intact) from "Fairfield, Conn." (filing endorsement) to London has the very rare Fairfield P.O.’s Manuscript “Fd.4” – the earliest known (per ASCC; cat. $1500 in 1997) Fairfield postal marking and one of only a handful of recorded Colonial Period markings from this small town. The Fairfield “4[dwt]” (silver weight) rate (54 miles to NY; ‘up to 60 miles’) at top right was then converted to sterling (red manuscript “To pay 1/-” Colonial rate) in transit in New York (faint “NEW YORK” and fine matching NY “20/SE” Franklin Mark on the reverse). On arrival in London (fine “10/NO” Bishop Mark on reverse) the total sterling postage due of “2N” (2s-0d) - for the American (1s-0d) plus British Packet (1s-0d) rates - was marked alongside the very rare London Foreign Branch’s distinctive “IND. AND PACT.)/POSTAGE)” mark of which only 8 examples have been recorded in private hands. It is remarkable that the inland American postal rate - for only 54 miles - was the same as the full Packet rate right across the Atlantic including the inland British postage from Falmouth to London (270 miles)!! Very rare Colonial Period Manuscript marking on a Transatlantic cover.Cross Reference: TRANSATLANTIC MAIL, LONDON POSTAL HISTORY, POSTAGE DUE MARKS