Lot
862 
Revenue, 1862-71 First Issue, 1¢ Express, perf'd. Well centered single (couple blunt perfs at bottom), tied by blue oval revenue handstamp of "Jay Cooke & Co./Philadelphia/Feb. 14, 1868" on drop cover addressed to "Miss Laura E. Cooke/Ogontz", cover with original hand written Valentine poem, cover with neat opening tear at right, Very Fine, written to the daughter of Jay Cooke & thought to be written by Charles Barney, who would marry Laura Cooke & was the founding member of Charles D. Barney & Co., who later merged with Edward Smith, to form Smith, Barney, a wonderful item which probably never entered the mails. Scott No. R1c Estimate $150 - 200.
Jay Cooke, a banker of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, who had helped finance the Union during the Civil War, had a forty acre estate and mansion which was named "Ogontz" after a Sandusky Indian called Chief Ogontz. Chief Ogontz, whom Cooke admired greatly, taught him wilderness skills as a boy.
Realized: $475