Lot
4148 
1869, 15¢ brown & blue, type II, tied on blue cover to Jarnac, France by bold strike of small eight-point star fancy cancel, matching "San Francisco Cal. Mar 15" cds, red "New York Mar 24" exchange office cds, carried by Ruger's American Line Rising Star from New York Mar. 24th to Havre arriving Apr. 9th, rare red "Et. Unis Serv. Am. V.A. Havre 3 Avril. '70" arrival datestamp (re-use of obsolete 1863 marking), "8" décimes due handstamp, reverse with Paris (4.10) transit and Jarnac (1.11) arrival cds, Very Fine, ex-Walske. Scott No. 119 Estimate $3,000 - 4,000.
The 1857 U.S.-French postal treaty expired on Dec. 31, 1869, making it difficult to fully prepay postage between the two countries, and impossible to fully prepay postage to France with U.S. stamps alone (with the exception of the unannounced phantom rate from New York via British mails). This cover was prepaid for the expired 15¢ treaty rate and was sent via the 10¢ American Packet Direct rate, with French postage due on arrival.
Realized: $2,700