August 2018 - Sneak Peek

CONCERNING THE CLASSICS
C .........................................................................................
BY DWAYNE O. LITTAUER - U.S. PHILATELIC CLASSICS SOCIETY
One Letter, Four Nations
Brazil and France Assisted Mail Moving Between the U.S. and Argentina
Figure 1. A single rate cover from Boston to Rosario, Argentina July 21, 1869. It was prepaid 18 cents, 10
cents per half ounce for the Brazil Line to Rio plus 7½ cents per quarter ounce for the French Ligne to
Buenos Aires. It also shows 5 cents Argentine postage due.
The United States, in 1867, entered into an arrangement
with France that became an effective way to
send mail between the U.S. and Argentina, with help
from France and Brazil.
From 1865 to 1875, the United States subsidized a steamship
line called the United States and Brazil Mail Steamship
Company, or the Brazil Line. It ran the nearly 6,000 nautical
miles between New York and Rio de Janeiro. The rate to send
a letter to Brazil by this line was 10 cents per half ounce.
At the same time, France operated a steamship line (Ligne
K) that ran between Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, a distance
of more than 1,300 nautical miles.
Starting in August 1867, a letter could be carried from
New York to Rio on the Brazil Line and from Rio to Buenos
Aires or Montevideo on the French Ligne K.
France charged 7½ cents per quarter ounce for its service.
When added to the 10-cent U.S. charge, the combined
rate was 17½ cents, of which 7½ cents was credited to France.
Since there were no half-cent stamps at this time, the rate was
rounded up to 18 cents.
The rate progression is unusual because the U.S. rate was
per half-ounce and the French rate was per quarter-ounce.
Thus, the rate for a letter weighing between a quarter and half
ounce was 25 cents, of which 15 cents was credited to France.
The rate between half-ounce and three-quarters ounce was
42½ cents (rounded up to 43 cents) of which 22½ cents was
credited to France. Prepayment of the postage was required.
George Hargest provided a detailed history of this service
in the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society’s journal, The Chronicle.
Our first three covers are from the same sender – lawyer
George L. Winsor, in Boston, Massachusetts, to George L.
Winsor, Esq., in care of Wheelwright & Co. of Rosario, Argentina.
The first cover [Figure 1] illustrates an 18-cent single rate
cover from Boston, on July 21, 1869 to Rosario. This is the
first of three covers showing this route. The rate was paid by a
3-cent 1869 issue and a 15-cent F grill of the 1867 issue. That
covered the 10 cents per half-ounce rate by the Brazil Line to
Rio and the 7½ cents per quarter-ounce rate for the French
Ligne K service to Buenos Aires.
The New York exchange office struck the red 7½ at the
lower right to indicate 7½ cents credit to France. The letter
was carried on the Brazil Line Merrimack, which left New
York on July 23 and probably arrived at Rio on August 20.
The octagonal French marking “ÉT-UNIS/PAQ. FR. K No. 1”
was used for mail received from the Brazil Line, and the August
22 date in that marking likely indicates when the Ligne
K steamer Aunis left Rio for Buenos Aires. The blue crayon “5
¢” indicates the Argentine postage due in centavos.
A second letter from Boston mailed October 21, 1868 to
762 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / AUGUST 2018