Lot
1817 
Official Seal, 1877, brown, used to seal top edge of officially-opened partly-paid cover bearing 2¢ vermilion (183) tied by "New York, G, Apr 26, 79" duplex to Englewood N.J., "Held for Postage, G" circular handstamp with blue crayon "1c" and matching "2373" file number, additional oval "Held for Postage" at bottom right, "New York, D.L.O., Apr 29, 79" backstamp; seal with small nick on reverse, small edge tear at bottom, Very Fine and rare use handled in the Dead Letter Office. Scott Nos. OX1 $1,000.
The "Post Obitum" official seal was originally designed for the Washington D.C. Dead Letter Office, supported by an article in the New York Times March 1877. There has been some question as to whether the seal was ever applied to covers there, and if so, how can these covers be identified. According to Jim Kotanchik the characteristics are: 1. they were held for postage, 2. they have similar blue crayon markings, 3. they have origin office markings on reverse as required for transmittal to the D.L.O. In this case, the additional postage was apparently not collected and the cover was returned in a D.L.O. penalty envelope.
Realized: $250