THE VERY RARE "SAVED FROM THE WRECK OF THE CLEOPATRA" MAIL; ...

Hammer

£2,000

THE VERY RARE "SAVED FROM THE WRECK OF THE CLEOPATRA" MAIL; 28 July 1862 unfranked EL (peripheral faults; datelined at Mount Coffee [Liberia] rare thus) to NY 'via England' with London cds on rear. Front with two strikes of the "SAVED-FROM-WRECK/OF-THE-CLEOPATRA" and three strikes of the "33" (cents) p.due mark and with Liverpool "12/CENTS" h.s. and "NEW YORK AM. PKT" d.s. also on front. Two covers from this wreck recorded by Hoggarth & Gwynn (2003). The ship was totally lost on the Shebar River off Sierra Leone with all the crew but one, some mail and other items recovered. Major exhibition item and one of the most important wreck covers of the 19th century. Cross Reference: CRASH/WRECK MAIL, LIBERIA