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Auction: 16USA - The Frederick R Mayer Collection of Costa Rica
Lot: 14

Spectacular 1872-73 three country combination usage folded letter, originating in Manchester, England, to San Jose (San Juan) Porto Rico, missent in error to San Jose, Costa Rica, then finally sent on to Porto Rico as originally intended.[cr][lf][cr][lf]This amazing cover, along with a second companion cover, is well documented and detailed in the new Frajola/Mayer handbook The Postal History of Costa Rica to 1883, from which we quote: This letter was posted from Manchester, England, on November 30, 1872, correctly prepaid with a British one shilling stamp (plate 6). But in England, the address was misread as Costa Rica rather than Porto Rico - there was no San Juan in Porto Rico - and the letter was bagged with the mail to Colon. It was carried on the Royal Mail steamship Nile, which departed Southampton on December 2 and arrived in Colon on December 25, 1872.[cr][lf][cr][lf]Upon arrival in San Jose, Costa Rica, the mistake was noted and the letter held by the postmaster. He applied his ""Admon Gral De Correos De Costa Rica/San Jose"" (Post Office Department of Costa Rica) two-line datestamp of January 10, 1873, and corrected the delay in manuscript to ""14"" to note receipt and that he was sending his request to the addressee to supply the required forwarding postage. He then sent the second cover (which accompanies), which evidently enclosed a printed circular requesting payment for additional postage, to the original addressee in Porto Rico. [cr][lf][cr][lf]The postmaster endorsed this cover with his Public Service, notice of missent letter message at the top and postmarked it with his two-line datestamp - exactly as on the other cover. Then, prepaying the printed matter rate, he franked the cover with two copies of Great Britain One Penny stamps, plate 149, which were cancelled in transit at Panama with barred ""C35"" cancels and postmarked on February 5, 1873. After carriage by rail across the isthmus to Colon, the cover was transfered to the Royal Mail steamship Elbe, which departed the same day and arrived at St. Thomas on February 13, 1873. It was then sent by Royal Mail steamship Mercy from St. Thomas to Porto Rico. Upon arrival in Porto Rico it was rated ""1"" real due with their handstamp struck twice.[cr][lf][cr][lf]After the Costa Rica postmaster received the postage requested, he forwarded the original cover along to Porto Rico, via Panama and Colon, with an additional four pence British stamp, plate 13, prepaying the letter rate of four pence between West Indian countries. The stamp was postmarked at Colon on April 5, 1873, and cancelled with a barred ""E88"" cancel. From Colon the letter was carried on the steamship Tasmanian to St. Thomas, where it arrived on April 13 and was backstamped the same day. Amazingly, the letter was returned in error from St. Thomas to Colon. It received an additional St. Thomas backstamp and was transmitted on the Royal Mail steamship Moselle leaving for Colon the next day. There the mistake was spotted and the letter, now bearing a Colon April 23 postmark, was sent back again on the Moselle´s return trip, which departed May 7 and arrived at St. Thomas on May 13, 1873. It was postmarked again at St. Thomas with the following day´s date and was correctly carried to Porto Rico on the Royal Mail steamship Eider, which departed St. Thomas on May 17 and arrived in Porto Rico on May 18, 1873. A Spanish West Indies (Cuba) 25 centavos stamp of 1873 was applied upon arrival and tied by a maltese-cross cancel with a ""1"" real handstamp, equal to 25 centavos, struck above indicating postage due to recipient.[cr][lf][cr][lf]An extraordinary pair of covers, perfect for exhibition, documenting mail-handling procedures applied to missent and poorly addressed letters. That both still exist, now reunited, is simply remarkable. Estimate US$ 8,000-9,500

Sold for
$10,500