5 March 1838 Waghorn Sidebottom 4 Cover

5 March 1838

1838, "CARE OF MR. WAGHORN/ALEXANDRIA." (Sidebottom 4b; Smith 4b). Clear strike of two-line handstamp with manuscript "72/G.W.W." initials at top right belonging to George W. Wheatley (Waghorn's agent in London), on folded letter with Mar. 5, 1838 origin date in London, addressed to Canton, China, sender's directive "pr Overland Mail", to which Wheatley added "Via Marseilles", London despatch backstamp, red "Angleterre par Calais" and "P-D" handstamps, slight staining presumably from disinfecting in transit VERY FINE STRIKE OF THE WAGHORN TYPE 4B HANDSTAMP ON A FOLDED LETTER TO CANTON, CHINA. AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE DESTINATION FOR WAGHORN MAIL--WE ARE AWARE OF ONLY FOUR TO CHINA. The Type 4 handstamp (4a and 4b) is the most common of the Waghorn markings, with Smith recording 76 examples dated between Mar. 1, 1836, and May 5, 1839. China is one of the rarest destinations for Waghorn mail on the eastbound journey. We located only four examples in our exhaustive survey of sale records, which is confirmed by Sidebottom's census (three Type 4 and one Type 7). Ex Smith.

"Magnolia" Peter Smith