Lot 50168 – India: 1857 – Mourning Registered Cover via Allan Line and P.O. “Pekin”

India: 1857 – Mourning Registered Cover via Allan Line and P.O. “Pekin”

Mourning envelope from Quebec, 1 August 1857, bearing red single-circle datestamp, red “PAID 6 d Stg.”, and REGISTERED marking. Carried by Allan “Indian” from Quebec 30 August, Liverpool, London 13 September, with red Crown REGISTERED. Forwarded onward by P.O. “Pekin” from Suez to Bombay (20 September) and to Agra. Possibly prepaid for the route via Cunard and Southampton according to the 1857 tariff (1/2 stg.), with charges recorded to Box 289. It is unclear who paid the registration fees outside Canada, or whether the cover was also registered from London onwards.

Note: An outstanding usage from the period of the Indian Mutiny. Illustrated in Arfken and Gems of Canadian Philately.

Provenance: Nickle, Harrison, Wilkinson, Holyoake