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Auction: 24019 - Stamps and Covers of Great Britain
Lot: 1023

(x) Great Britain
Merchant Mail
Incoming
From Germany
1595 (3 May) entire letter from Giovanni Becher in Staden to Bartolomeo Corsini in London with "7" waybill number on reverse, "d6 hollt" Merchant Adventurers charge mark, and "d19 Merchant Stranger charge mark on arrival, letter mentioned "It is now 7 p.m., and haveing an extraordinary post for Amsterdam and Emden, I wanted to take the opportunity, and send it with this in haste. Very fine and most unusual being one of only two known Corsini letters to show rates from both these ports.

Note: Charged 6d. from Holland to London, 6d. Hollt by the Merchant Adventurers Post, 19d. by the Merchant Strangers Post on arrival in London and delivered by the latter as the top letter in a bundle of thirty-eight letters.

literature:
'The Corsini Letter', Philip Beale, Adrian Almond and Mike Scott Archer, Pages 160-161

provenance:
Christie's Robson Lowe, 11 October, 1988, Lot 362

Subject to 5% tax on Hammer Price in addition to 20% VAT on Buyer’s Premium.

Sold for
£650

Starting price
£650