Lot
2614 
(Postal Card Forerunner) Hyman L. Lipman, Philadelphia, Forerunner Postal Card Essay (Unstated Value) Light Blue on White Wove, bearing 1¢ ultramarine (145) tied by segmented cork cancel, addressed to West Chester Pa., reverse with printed Philadelphia dry goods advertisement on reverse; light tone spot at lower right, still Very Fine. UPSS No. UX1E-B var. Estimate $4,000 - 6,000.
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE POSTAL USE OF THE LIPMAN FORERUNNER ESSAY, ONLY A FEW USED EXAMPLES ARE BELIEVED TO EXIST.
Although Lipman applied for a patent, it was never allowed as entrepreneur John P. Charleton of Philadelphia had already secured copyright for the earliest private mailing card in 1861. Most Lipman cards as a result contain fine print contributing legal credit to J.P. Charlton. There is reason to believe that, in time, Charleton himself came to to condone "Lipman's Postal Cards" because eventually he used them for his own correspondence. Lipman was the first to carry through the first commercial application of the private mailing cards, years prior to the Government issued Postal Card in May 1873. It should be noted that although the United States invented the postal card, Austria would be the first to issue one. By the end of 1870, Great Britain, Wurttemmberg, Finland and Switzerland would follow suit. Following legislation in 1872, Lipman cards were confiscated by post offices and sent to the Dead Letter Office, thus explaining the rarity of existing used examples.
A companion card with identical message is illustrated in Fricke's "A Contemporary Account of the First United States Postal Card 1870-75" on page 6. The recent Siegel auction of the Georgian Collection of United States Postal Cards had a similar example of this used Lipman forerunner essay that realized $7,187.
Realized: $7,500