Los 8067
1857: 1 d. red star, used to pay the ´Late Fee´on 1863 entire letter which mentions an enclosure, mailed from London to Hong Kong, endorsed 'via Marseilles', neatly tied by London '7' obliterator with manuscript pre-payment of 2/8d. for double rate at left and further mansucript '2' for Hong Kong credit. A scarce and very attractive usage. Opinion Holcombe (1989).
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.
