1887 – Invitation circular to bid in an auction for a 300-acre blue grass farm printed on an experimental die-cut envelope to save in postage costs
Envelope or Cover. This circular invites the recipient to bid in an auction for Glasston, 300-acre blue grass farm near Georgetown, Kentucky. It was sent by trustees for the property, Geo. V. Payne and Bettie F. Glass, and a local auctioneer, Capt. Nat. S. Offutt, to the Powell Brothers in Springboro, Pennsylvania. It is franked with a one-cent Franklin stamp (Scott #206) cancelled with a concentric ring handstamp and bearing a circular Paynes Depot, Kentucky postmark. In nice shape.
The invitation reads in part:
“Splendid Blue Grass Farm / at / Public Sale.
“We will sell publicly, on / Saturday, April 30th, 1887, / Glaston / “The well-known farm of the late V. K Glass, and former home of the late Junius R. Ward, containing / 300 acres of No. 1 Land. . ..
“This farm is almost a rectangle in shape and subdivided into convenient fields and pastures with good fences. . .. For beauty of location and fertility of soil it is not surpassed by any farm in Kentucky. It has been cultivated with . . . hemp . . . wheat, corn and oats. . .. [There is] an abundance of stock water by splendid ponds filled by lasting springs of cool water. . .. The residence in unrivaled in Central Kentucky for elegance, costliness, and durability having been erected . . . at a cost exceeding $40,000. It has spacious rooms, halls, bath rooms, hot and cold water, gas, and all conveniences of a palatial home. . ..”
It is printed on an unusual and scarce, experimental die-cut envelope whose construction allowed it to be sent folded and protected, but unsealed, thus costing only one cent instead of three. The top flap has an arrow extension that can be inserted behind a bar slit into the rear panel to keep the mailing secure.
. Very good. Item #010828A nice farm auction invitation printed on an experimental die-cut mailer to reduce postage costs. Experimental mailers like this one occasionally appear in philatelic auctions..
Price: $100.00