Archive 02 Large Eagle Pair NY Exchange 30 Day Transit
OVERVIEW
Offered is an authentic commercial cover mailed from Weimar, Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, German Empire, on December 8, 1880, and addressed to Theodore B. Trevett, Portland, Oregon, United States.
This cover is Archive 02 from a documented nineteenth-century Weimar correspondence group and represents the second identified mailing connecting Weimar with the Pacific Northwest.
Addressed to Portland pioneer Theodore B. Trevett, it preserves an exceptional sequence of postal markings documenting a complete transatlantic journey from Imperial Germany to Oregon.
Unlike the companion Napa Valley correspondence, this cover was directed to one of Portland's early civic leaders and provides valuable evidence of German-American communication during the city's formative years.
FRANKING & POSTAL HISTORY
The cover is franked with a horizontal pair of Germany's 10-pfennig Large Eagle definitives, cataloged as Scott 39 and Michel 41, paying the required 20-pfennig international letter rate.
Use of a horizontal pair rather than a single 20-pfennig adhesive creates a visually attractive franking and illustrates one of the accepted methods of satisfying the Universal Postal Union overseas letter rate during the early 1880s.
Both adhesives are securely tied by crisp Weimar circular datestamps dated December 8, 1880.
The cover entered the United States through the New York Foreign Mail Exchange, where it received a December 26 transit backstamp together with the desirable Paid All A accounting marking confirming that the international postage had been fully prepaid. From New York, the letter traveled by rail across the continent to Portland, Oregon, where a clear Portland Oregon Rec'd arrival datestamp dated January 7, 1881, at 5 PM completed the postal journey.
The recorded markings document a transit of exactly thirty days from Weimar to Portland, an impressive delivery time considering the Atlantic crossing, customs handling, and transcontinental rail transportation required during the period.
CONTEXT & COLLECTOR APPEAL
Theodore B. Trevett was among Portland's early residents during a period of rapid commercial expansion and urban development.
Correspondence addressed to identifiable pioneers adds an important historical dimension beyond the philatelic interest of the franking and postal markings.
This cover represents Archive 02 within a developing Weimar correspondence group. Together with the companion Oregon and Napa Valley covers, it documents repeated communications from central Germany to the American West, providing an increasingly complete picture of nineteenth-century transatlantic correspondence.
The combination of a Scott 39 pair, complete origin, transit and arrival markings, identifiable addressee, and documented thirty-day journey makes this one of the strongest postal history pieces in the archive. Collectors of Imperial Germany, German-American correspondence, Oregon postal history, Pacific Northwest pioneer history, and Universal Postal Union transatlantic mail routes will find this an especially desirable research and exhibition item.
ITEM SPECIFICS
Country: Germany
Year: 1880
Type: Commercial Transatlantic Cover
Topic: Imperial Germany Transatlantic Pioneer Mail
Theme: Transatlantic Postal History
Subject: Large Eagle Definitives
Era: German Empire (1880)
Occasion: International Commercial Mail
Region: Weimar Grand Duchy of Saxe Weimar Eisenach
Stamp Color: Carmine
Denomination: 2 x 10 Pfennig (20 Pfennig Total)
Currency: German Mark / Pfennig
Perforation: 13.5 x 14.5
Printing Method: Typography (embossed design)
Cover Stock/Paper Type: Standard Wove Envelope
Cancellation Type/Date: Origin Circular Datestamp; Transit Backstamp; Arrival Datestamp; Accounting Marking
Catalog Numbers: Germany Scott 39 Michel 41
SKU: GERMANY-1880-WEIMAR-TREVETT-02
CONDITION
Authentic commercial cover exhibiting honest postal wear consistent with international carriage and more than 145 years of age.
Peripheral edge wear, corner losses, creasing, and handling faults are present and clearly visible.
The horizontal pair of 10-pfennig adhesives remains firmly affixed with well-struck Weimar origin cancellations.
The reverse retains clear New York Foreign Mail Exchange and Portland arrival markings together with the desirable Paid All A accounting marking, providing an unusually complete postal history record.
Please examine all high-resolution images carefully on the individual listing to verify the exact condition, edge faults, stamp placement, and cancellation clarity prior to purchase.