Costs of Doing Business - Postal History Sunday

Welcome to Postal History Sunday, featured weekly on the Genuine Faux Farm blog and the GFF Postal History blog.  If you take this link, you can view every edition of Postal History Sunday, starting with this one (the most recent always shows up at the top).

This week, we are going to feature several pieces of mail that, unless you are looking at them carefully, look to be very similar.  Each and every folded letter is part of the same correspondence between Dutton & Townsend in New York and Jose Esteban Gomez in Cadiz, Spain.  Every single one of the items I will share in this blog features the 24 cent 1861 postage stamp I favor and, in each case, that stamp paid enough postage for the letter to find its way to Cadiz - even though there were times when Gomez had to pay more postage for the privilege of receiving the correspondence.

Different Rates - Same Route

In 1864, the year in which this letter was mailed, Spain was one of the locations in the world where the United States did not have a direct postal agreement to exchange mail.  That meant that correspondents would have to rely on intermediary postal services to get the job done.  In this case, the options were the postal services in the United Kingdom and France.  And since these letters were all destined for Cadiz, the route for each letter ended up being pretty much the same - even though there were multiple postage rate options (which we will talk about later in this Postal History Sunday).

This business letter traveled from New York to Queenstown, Ireland and then to London.  From London, the letter traveled through France, passing through Paris, on its way to the shared border with Spain.  There were two primary border crossings where France and Spain exchanged mail, one in the west at Irun and the other in the east at La Junquera.  Other crossings were limited to local mail.

Since our letters are all destined to Cadiz, and the eastern crossing would be for destinations primarily in Eastern Spain and the Catalan region, we can make a fairly good assumption that each of these went through Irun.

A rough rendering of the route to Cadiz

As a quick geography refresher, I supply you with the map above that shows the route this letter most likely took as it left London, entered France (at Calais) and then went to the western end of the border shared by France and Spain.  Bayonne would be one of the closest communities on the French side and Irun would be the companion Spanish community.  For those who are curious, the eastern exchange would have Le Perthus on the French side of the border and La Junquera on the Spanish side.

What was in that letter?

Dutton & Townsend of New York sent many business letters to Gomez over a period of ten or so years.  Many of the items available to collectors have had at least some of the contents removed.  However, I am lucky to have one that appears to be fully intact (this belongs to the folded letter shown at the beginning of this blog).

"No. 70 Beaver Street, New York December 23, 1864

Dear Sir, 

Your esteemed favor of September 28th last was duly received and its contents duly considered.  We are glad to learn that we shall probably gain something by the interest you have retained for us in your last sales of our staves.

We have again concluded to try your market with a cargo of staves from your opinion expressed that you could probably sell them on arrival so to compensate us.  We have accordingly chartered and loaded the Brig Mattapony of Bath, Captain S.G.Wyman, and she is now on her way to you having sailed yesterday 22 instant."

The context at the opening of this business letter tells us that this is not the first letter in this correspondence.  It sounds like Gomez may have contacted Dutton & Townsend and suggested that he could serve as a broker for their staves in Cadiz.  Prior offerings had gone well, so a new shipment with a range of product (different size and types of staves) was already on its way.

"These staves are of the very best quality of their several kinds and we think you will say on seeing them that the cargo is as fine a one as ever you have received....  This cargo we have caused to be insured here both against marine loss and rebel pirates.  So that in case of loss you will please have the necessary documents sent to us to collect the insurance..."

In late 1864 to early 1865, the threat of Confederate privateers was minimal.  Early enthusiasm for privateering had waned greatly when those private vessels who managed to capture a merchant vessel couldn't get to a Confederate court to collect their reward.  Why take the risk when the award was uncertain?

Even so, Dutton & Townsend indicated that they had acquired insurance for their cargo.  The potential of this account was apparently lucrative enough that it was worth adding this price to the cost of doing business.

What was Dutton & Townsend?

The letter content provides us with a place of business in New York City, which gives us the opportunity to explore a bit further.

Trow's New York City Directory, May 1, 1865

Trow's New York City Directory confirms for us that Dutton & Townsend held office space at 70 Beaver Street and that the business dealt in "staves and heading."  We also learn here that the two persons headlining this business are Edward H. Dutton and John P. Townsend.

Beyond that, it is interesting to me that the only reference of substance I have been able to find (thus far) for Dutton & Townsend has to do with a prior business named Sherman & Romaine.  This business, headed by Isaac Sherman and Benjamin F. Romaine, was established in New York City in 1853 when these two purchased the rough stave business of a William Dennistoun.  According to the source I cite below (*), this was the largest rough stave business in the United States, shipping out as many as 14 million staves in a year.  This volume was enough to take up at least some of the cargo hold for as many as 1000 ships annually.

John P Townsend was a clerk who eventually earned an interest in the business, but when Romaine died, two businesses were spun off of the original in 1862.  One of the two was Dutton & Townsend and the other was Sherman & Wibert.  The latter business ended in 1866, while the former appears to have gone on for much longer.

* Portrait Gallery of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York: Catalogue and Biographical Sketches,  compiled by George Wilson, Press of the Chamber of Commerce, New York, 1890, p. 209.

Cooper with barrel - mid 1800s from Library of Congress (DAG no. 1196)

Rough wooden staves were the raw material needed for the construction of barrels by coopers worldwide.  Headings were the boards that were used to construct the top and bottoms of these barrels (hence a business that sold "staves and headings").  According to this site (Roots Web), most barrels require from 24 to 36 staves to make the body.  Wooden barrels were used to ship and store a wide range of products, including wine, oil and other liquids.  The image below comes from the American Oil and Gas Historical Society, which explains why the 42 gallon barrel became the standard for oil production (an interesting read if you are so inclined).

I have been unable to learn anything about Jose Esteban Gomez, but given the location, it is entirely possible that he sold much of this material to cooperages that built barrels for the wine industry that was fairly strong in the Sherry and Malaga regions in southern Spain at that time.

Mail Options from the U.S. to Spain

Both Dutton & Townsend and Gomez were not too concerned about pinching pennies when it came to postage.  Nearly every point in time during this ten year period there were options to get a letter mailed for less than 24 cents.  It seems that Dutton & Townsend, just always put a 24 cent stamp on the letter, knowing that it would be enough to handle any of the available options for mailing.  They wrote off extra postage as a cost of doing business.

While the route was pretty much the same, there were actually several postal rate options if a person wanted to send a letter from the United States to Spain.

1. Prepay to Spanish border via French Mail

21 cents per 1/4 ounce to Spanish border - April 1857 to December 1869

This letter was mailed in Boston on August 2, 1865 to Gomez in Cadiz.  Apparently, someone with the Dutton & Townsend business was traveling and still corresponding with clients.   The 24 cent stamp overpaid this rate by three cents, but it did the job and got the letter to the border of Spain.  The recipient, however, still needed to pay 4 reales to receive the letter to cover the Spanish portion of the postage.

The biggest piece of evidence that this item was sent using the French mails are the black, circular markings near the postage stamp.  They read "Et Unis Serv 14 Aout 65."  The boxed "P.D." marking is also an indicator to us that this was sent via the French Mail agreement.

The biggest disadvantage of this rate was that it was by the quarter ounce (or 7.5 grams).  It was not hard to have a heavier letter that weighed more than that, but less than a half ounce (which was the weight unit for another mailing rate option).  So, only very light letters would cost less than the 24 cents Dutton and Townsend seemed content to pay.

2. Prepay to destination via British Mail

22 cents per 1/4 ounce to destination - January 1868 - December 1869

The second option was not available until 1868, but it also had added the benefit that that the letter would be prepaid all the way to the recipient.  In this case, the 24 cent stamp overpaid the rate by only 2 cents AND Senor Gomez was not required to pay extra money for the privilege of getting the next invoice or business correspondence from Dutton & Townsend.

Once again, this rate was by the quarter ounce.  If a letter was just a little bit heavier, it would require 44 cents, which was apparently something Dutton & Townsend wanted to avoid.  Perhaps they had many sheets of 24 cent stamps they wanted to use up?

3. Pay only what you must to get the letter to the British, let Gomez pay the rest.

21 cents per 1/2 ounce via American Packet to British Mails - October 1858 to December 1867

This brings us back to our first letter.  This one was definitely heavier than the two prior items and would have cost 42 or 44 cents respectively using those rates.  So, instead of doing that, Dutton and Townsend sent this via a provision known as the British Open Mails.

The basic premise of British Open Mails was that the sender only needed to pay for any mail service required to get the item TO the British postal system.  In this case, it cost 5 cents to get this letter to the ship (City of Cork) that would cross the Atlantic.  And, since that ship was under contract with the United States, that had to be paid for as well (16 cents).  That gives us a grand total of 21 cents due to get this item to the British.

Once again, Dutton and Townsend overpaid the postage by three cents, but they were able to send a heavier letter without having to put another stamp on it.  Gomez, on the other hand, may not have been as happy with this because 8 reales were collected from him when the letter was picked up.  An unpaid letter from England cost 4 reales per 1/4 ounce (approximately).  This item weighed more than 1/4 ounce and no more than 1/2 ounce, so 8 reales was the calculated postage due.

So, the total postage paid for the letter was 21 cents (for the US) and 8 reales (for everything else).

5 cents per 1/2 ounce via British Packet to British Mails - October 1858 to December 1867

But, what happened if a ship crossing the Atlantic was under contract with the British?  The only postage a person would need to pay in order to use the British Open Mails was the 5 cents required to get the item to that ship while it was in an American port!

Surely Dutton & Townsend would decide this represented too great a loss and it would invest in a few five cent postage stamps for this situation?  Apparently not!  Sometimes a cost of business is acceptable if the trade-off provides sufficient convenience.  We can not argue that Dutton & Townsend were unaware of the shipping schedules, because each letter identifies the ship of departure the letter was intended to take.  We have to conclude that an overpay of nineteen cents apparently did not mean much for this business's bottom line. 

In every case, there was extra postage paid that was not used.  Gomez usually had to pay some of the postage (with the notable exception of the 22 cent rate via Britain).  The account must have been lucrative enough that neither party cared to spend the extra energy to save a few pennies on either end.  Though I have to admit that Gomez had fewer options at his disposal.  If he wanted to read the letter, he had to pay for it.  

In fact, some of the letters from this correspondence also show that duplicate letters were often mailed (the word "duplicate" is a docket).  This could be simply a reminder to pay for a shipment or it was, perhaps, an additional 'insurance' for possible loss at sea.

Whatever the reasons or the logic, I suspect both parties just accepted postage (and the overpayments) as a "cost of doing business."

10 cents per 1/2 ounce paid to England - January 1868 to December 1869

But, I've still got one more of these up my sleeve!  Here's an 1869 item from the correspondence with another 24 cent stamp to pay the postage.  The British Open Mail cost was now a ten cent flat rate, it did not matter which ship carried the letter across the Atlantic.  

This is the same period of time when the 22 cent rate per 1/4 ounce was in effect to pay the letter to destination, so we might be tempted to ask why this letter didn't use that rate?  Well, apparently, the letter weighed more than 1/4 ounce, so it went using a postage rate that the 24 cent stamp could cover.

The postage rate for an unpaid letter in Spain, from England, must have decreased, so only 4 reales were collected from Senor Gomez this time around.  I have yet to track down that specific information, so if someone has it, I would appreciate hearing from you!

Bonus Material

Back of the folded letter shown above.

Several of the folded letters, but not all, show an interesting marking on the back.  This oval marking appears in black ink and bears the word "Lista."  The purpose of this was to indicate that the letter was held at the post office and it was advertised in the newspaper as being available for pick up by Gomez.

In prior Postal History Sunday entries, you might remember some discussion that not all letters were delivered by a carrier to the person at their address.  Some letters were kept at the post office and awaited the arrival of the recipient (or someone representing them) to come and pick up their mail.  Many post offices would also advertise that letters were available for pick up after they had been in the office for a certain period of time.  Each postal system had different procedures, but many in the 1860s required that the recipient pay an additional fee for letters that had to be advertised.

Is it possible that Jose Esteban Gomez had to pay even a bit more for his letters?  If someone knows the regulations for advertised letters in Spain during this time frame, feel free to contact me.

The last cover I wanted to show today is another British Open Mail item where the 5 cent postage stamp paid the 21 cents required to get the item to England.  This letter is dated October 7, 1863, showing us that the Gomez correspondence with Dutton & Townsend had origins prior to the first letter in our post.

Thanks for reading and your feedback

Some of you might have been saying, at some point during this Postal History Sunday, "didn't Rob do something on this in a prior entry?"  If you did, good for you!  I took a first pass on this topic in May of 2021, not long after I underwent surgery to have a kidney removed.  And, ever since then, I've felt like I had not provided the full attention it deserved.  On the other hand, if this is all new to you - ignore that last bit!

Either way, this is a story that has plenty of complexity and even more that could be explored in the future.  And that, my friends, is part of what motivates me to continue with Postal History Sunday.  There is so much more to learn and so much learning to share.

After last week's entry titled Quarantine!, I received several kind words from people who read and enjoyed that entry.  I found that gratifying as I felt that it was one of my better efforts in this series that has now passed the two year mark of weekly writings.

I would also like to reiterate that I do encourage feedback of all sorts, including constructive criticism, appropriate corrections, and suggestions for resources or directions to continue investigating a given story.

Have a great remainder of your day and a fine week to come.