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Auction: 21042 - The Opium Wars Collection
Lot: 22

First Opium War
The Opium Trade
Opium Clipper Ships
Water Witch: 1836 (2 Aug.) river mail entire letter written (cross-written on the first page) to Edward Crooke in Canton from his cousin, E.L. Venables, from the 'Water Witch' anchored at Cumsingmoon. The letter is mostly of a general business nature but he does mention, " ... I have not been on the Hercules since I received your letter last week ...I have not sold my chest of opium yet, I was offered $650 on Sunday for it but from what I can hear it is likely to rise ...". There is a heavy horizontal folding crease and the recipient's notation overlapping part of the address panel, however, there are two large, brush stroke ink delivery characters on the flap and there is a complete red wax seal


鴉片煙快速大飛艇 "Water Witch": 1836年8月2廣州的Edward Crooke (當時廣州的很出名鴉片煙商人, 中文名稱為"局碌" ), 他的表親 E.F. Venables 於Water Witch號船上 (泊於金星門) 經內河郵遞寄給他的信函. 此信函上有以毛筆書寫 "局碌" 两漢字, 有明顯摺痕, 及信舌上有完整紅色火漆. 當時仍未有正式郵政運輸服務, 信函送遞往往採用鴉片煙快艇 (Opium Clipper) 為運輸工具, 此信函亦為一實例.

Estimate
HK$6,000 to HK$10,000

Starting price
HK$4500