Los-Nr. 9

1d. black plate 4, DJ, three large margins, just shaved at right, tied by red Maltese Cross to entire letter from ‚BIRMINGHAM  NO 11  1840« to Aix La Chapelle, Rhenish Prussia. The letter was forwarded to London, but handstamped ‚Returned for .....Postage« in red by the London Foreign Branch Office and returned to Birmingham to collect ‚1/10« (1s.10d.) from the sender. The postage was then collected and the cover was marked by a ‚PAID 14 NO 1840« handstamp. The adhesive is tied by two Maltese Crosses in slightly different shades of red to the cover, the second strike may have been applied either in London at the Foreign Branch or in Birmingham when the missing postage had been collected. A very rare usage of a 1840, 1d. black on foreign destination cover, especially ‚from beyond London«. According to the Karl Louis Card Index Register, this cover is the only genuine cover bearing a Penny Black to Prussia (another cover to Neuwied having first been seen on the Market in June 2008 is at least ‚questionable«). Karl Louis BPP certificate (2008)