10c Green, Ty. V (35).
Fresh color, short corner perf, tied by "OLD STAMPS/NOT RECOGNIZED"
two-line handstamp on cover to a John Megennis, aboard the U.S.S.
Lancaster at Panama, matching "Philadelphia Pa. Aug. 30, 1861"
circular datestamp, ms. note in corner indicates this was sent by
Richard Vaux, prominent Philadelphian penologist and former
mayorVERY FINE. THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF THIS DEMONETIZATION HANDSTAMP ON MAIL BOUND FOR A FOREIGN COUNTRY.
After the U.S. Post Office Department declared its demonetization policy for stamps issued prior to the new 1861 Issue, federal post offices throughout the country were instructed to set expiration dates for the exchange of old for new issues -- generally, the exchange period was six days from the date of receipt of new stamps. In Philadelphia the cut-off date was August 26, 1861, from which time letters bearing demonetized stamps were marked "Old Stamps Not Recognized". The absence of a due marking on this cover indicates that the New York City post office (the routing point for mail to Panama) accepted the old stamp, which accords with New York's longer exchange period (ending in November 1861).
The Philadelphia "Old Stamps" marking and similar ones applied to mail originating in the North are related in purpose to the "Southern Letter Unpaid" handstamp, which was applied at the Louisville terminal office on mail originating in the South before all mail exchange was suspended. Six "Southern Letter Unpaid" covers to foreign countries are recorded, one of which bears the 10c 1857 Issue (ex Brown, Baker, Grunin and Ishikawa -- realized $81,700 in Christie's Ishikawa sale). Remarkably, only one "Old Stamps Not Recognized" cover to a foreign country has been recorded to date: this 10c 1857 cover to Panama.
Ex Gibson, Baker and Grunin. Illustrated in Richard Graham's "Postal History and Stamps" series in The American Philatelist (Apr. 1978). With 1988 P.F. certificate (Image)