Lot
2391 
Uruguay, 1859, 120c blue, thin numerals, type 7, ample to mostly large margins, tied by blue "Sala De Comercio De Montevideo" ornate oval handstamp on 1858 dateline folded letter to Rosario (Argentina)7, Very Fine and attractive, this being one of three franked covers known carried through the Chamber of Commerce of Montevideo; with 2003 P.F. certificate. Scott No. 10 Estimate $2,500 - 3,500.
The "Chamber of Commerce" of Montevideo, part from the commercial and maritime services, offered a special postal facility at late hour consisting of handling of restricted merchant correspondence when the state postal offices had already closed; the mail being charged the corresponding postal rate plus a further fee which paid in cash for this service, and was carried between Montevideo and Buenos Aires by the ferry trips under merchant control, with only nominal post office involvement or sanction. In this example, the cover was very probably transferred to the post at Buenos Aires for onward transmission to Rosario. (The contents written by the sender -a merchant- mention him to be very busy in that period, which may have influenced in the fact that the cover could not be consigned to the post before closing).