Lot no. 8096

1856 (Dec 29): Heard correspondence cover from Smyrna via Malta to Canton with blue oval Forwarding Agent´s cachet 'Augt. Poctelli & co. / Malta' at top left and MALTA / PAID cds of despatch (Jan 3) in black. Prepaid '1/5d.' in manuscript red ink and, on reverse double arc HONG KONG arrival cds (March 10) in black. In 1830, Augustine Heard  (1785-1868) settled in Canton, China, where he became partner in the trading firm of Samuel Russell & Co. by then the leading American Opium dealer in China. Heard set up his own company, Augustine Heard & Co., in 1840, with Joseph Coolidge and John Murray Forbes. The firm became successful and grew rapidly to become the third largest American firm in China. By 1850 had branch offices, beside the headquarter in Canton, in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Foochow with agencies in Amoy and Ningpo. As with many others American firms involved in trade with China at the time, Augustine Heard & Co. encountered financial difficulties in the 1870s and finally went bankrupt in 1875.