5c Franklin illegal use from Arkansas Territory to Washington, DC on cover
Object Details
- Description
- This is the only cover from Eagletown prepaid with an 1847 postage stamp. It was addressed to Col. P. P. Pitchlynn, a Choctaw chief, while he was in the "City of Washington." Although Eagletown was in unorganized territory west of the Arkansas border, it was attached to Arkansas in the Post Office Department records for administrative purposes, and hence the designation "Ark" in the townmark.
- The cover entered the mails on July 14, 1854, long after the 1847 stamps had been demonetized. Although a Post Office Department order had declared these stamps unusable for postage after June 30, 1851, only three examples are known showing that a local office refused to recognize them. Seventy-three covers are known where the stamps were accepted after demonetization.
- Since the Act of March 3, 1851, had provided that single-weight letters traveling a distance of up to 3,000 miles would incur prepaid postage of only three cents, this usage represents a two-cent overpayment of the 1851 rate.
- Eagletown did not receive any 1847 stamps. This 5-cent stamp was carried there from some other source, probably Doakesville (or Doaksville).
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- July 14, 1854
- Object number
- 2003.2019.8
- Recipient
- Peter P. Pitchlynn, Native American (Choctaw), born 1806
- Printer
- Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson
- Type
- Covers & Associated Letters
- Medium
- paper; ink (red brown) / handwritten; engraved
- Dimensions
- Height x Width: 2 3/4 x 5 in. (7 x 12.7 cm)
- Place of Origin
- Eagletown (Choctaw Nation), Arkansas
- Place of Destination
- District of Columbia
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- On View
- Currently on exhibit at the National Postal Museum
- Title
- Scott Catalogue USA 1
- Topic
- National Stamp Collection
- Covers & Letters
- Record ID
- npm_2003.2019.8
