Los 8065
1849 (June 6): Printed O.H.M.S. entire from the GPO in London to Canton, requesting payment of 2/11d. due for a Ship Letter held at the London General Post Office addressed Heard & Co. in Canton. Crown London cds in red on front and reverse with double arc HONG KONG arrival cds (Aug 18). Fresh and fine; a most unusual item with scarce destination . Signed Holcombe.
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.
