Lot 360
Inland usage: 1872 (6 Feb.) folded cover, endorsed "Per Str "Bismarck" from Port Elizabeth to Duban, Natal bearing Poppe Schunhoff & Guttery Forwarding Agents in Port Elizabeth (P.S.&G. seal) on back flap and DURBAN FEB 6 1872 c.d.s. backstamp with manuscript "6d" in blue crayon on front. Rare, ex. Dillaway.
Estimate $300 - 400
The Durban c.d.s. dates this letter to a period when the Bismarck was no longer a regular mail contract carrying vessel in terms of a letter from Natal Government dated 28 August 1871 noting that the Bismarck would no longer convey mails between the Cape and Natal. The "Anglian" and "Natal" were to be the mail contract ships on this route. Mail carried by the Bismarck was to be treated as if by private ship. Thus the 6d rating (as per 1869) of 6d per ½oz. for letters for Natal. Poppe Schunhoff & Guttery were Forwarding Agents in Port Elizabeth around the 1860s. In the absence of any Cape postmarks the folded cover was apparently carried by favor on the Bismarck and postage paid on entry into the Natal posts. The correspondence is a known one to Carl Behrens, a prominent businessman and financier in Natal life. In 1861 he became General Manager of the London based Natal Land and Colonization Company which speculated in Natal Farming Properties, a position he held for 27 years.
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| Opening Bid $145 |
