1842 – An illustrated J. B. Peck’s New Package Express Line shipping document used in the delivery of samples of pimentos and coffee from a Baltimore importer to a Boston wholesale grocery merchant
Baltimore: 1842. Envelope or Cover. This 3-page stampless folded shipping document and letter measures 15.75” x 10” unfolded. It features vignettes of an early steamboat, a three-masted sailing ship, and an early pioneer 4-2-0 locomotive with box car along the upper border and touts its delivery service to “Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, & c / for the conveyance of Bank Notes, Specie, and Packages of every description,” noting that its two main offices were located in Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The combined letter/shipping document, sent from the Baltimore firm of J. F. Strohm to Silas Pierce and Company of Boston, is dated 24 October 1842. It bears a blue circular Baltimore postmark dated 25 October along with a manuscript “18 ½” rate mark. The letter describes the contents of the shipment and possible additional purchases. It reads in part:
2 “We hand you above a receipt of a small Package containing a Sample of Pimento as a lot of 5 to 600 Bags for which 8 3/8¢ is asked in “Cash”. . .. It is the only lot in market and that is the reason, that we hasten to send you a sample of it. All other parcels have been sent to New York. . .. We think it is a cheap lot and the quality is very good. . .. We sent you likewise two Samples of Java Coffee . . . it is selling slowly at 14¢. . .. Both lots do not exceed 150 Bags. . .. We have met your observations on the fruit trade with much pleasure. . .. Thine will be offered at Auction a small lot of . . . Currants in a day or two and likewise . . . raisins. . .. Saleratus [baking soda] . . . can be bought here for 6 ¢. . .. We will write to you in a few days more fully.”
. Very good. Item #010787Pierce also served as the Venezuelan consul in the United States.
Shortly before the shipment was sent, in April 1842, the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad (PW&B) officially contracted its package express operations to J.B. Peck, establishing a vital early coordinated rail and steamboat parcel delivery network along the East Coast. In 1846, the PW&B was incorporated into the Pennsylvania Railroad.
An unusual and scarce billhead used to document equally unusual shipment of pimentos and coffee along with an offer for Pierce to purchase raisins, currants, and baking soda.
At the time of listing nothing similar is for sale in the trade. The Rare Book Hub and ASBA show nothing similar has appeared at auction. The Silas Pierce and Company records are held at the New York Public Library.
.Price: $150.00