2017-09-07 Thu

The payment or prepayment of a delivery fee of letters within the city was made using City Carrier Department Stamps. Postage stamps paid only for delivery from one post office to the other, Extra fee was charged for delivering letters elsewhere within the city.

City carrier stamps were used only in the city in which they were issued, sanctioned by the postmaster general of the local post office. The postmaster general appointed and bonded the letter carriers. City carrier stamps are popularly collected based on the city of issue.

A 1¢ black and a 1¢ red imperforate Mounted Letter Carrier stamps were issued by Baltimore, Md. in 1857 with the inscriptions “Government City Dispatch” and the denomination “One Cent”. Generally, City Carrier Department Stamps depicted utilitarian designs, making this particular stamp unique and special.

The 1¢ black stamp has a market value of $50 in used condition, and the 1¢ red stamp has a market value of $90 in used condition. Undamaged four-margin examples without problems are value for money at these rates. If the stamps feature a manuscript cancellation of the carrier’s initials then it can fetch you a better price.