Lot
4309 E
S.C. Hopkins, Boston Mass. Paid Reply Postal Card Essay, Typographed on 260 x 76 mm dull v. faint y-o-yellow card in deep red and black, folded in center to 130 x 76 mm, the back or inside edge of the beveled end (Half B) is gummed, Very Fine. USPCC No. MR1E-B $3,500.
THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF THE S.C. HOPKINS PAID REPLY POSTAL CARD ESSAY.
This is probably the earliest suggestion utilizing the idea of a double postal card to prepay postage having been advanced by Mr. S.C. Hopkins probably in 1875 or 1876, although the date cannot be proved. Mr. Hopkins did not attempt to patent his idea, which consisted of a double card, hinged at one end, and with the two outside corners of the return half beveled. Printed in black on the back or inside of "Half A" was a rather complete summation of the advantages claimed for the card.
Realized: $1,500