Lot n° 189
Estimation :
125 - 150
EUR
Result without fees
Result
: 100EUR
- Lot 189
[PHILATELIA BALLON MONTÉ] LEMAIRE - L.a.s. "ballon monté" to Jules Carion, wine merchant in Brussels.
Paris, November 26, 1870. Bifeuillet in-8°, 3 pp. on crystal paper, 2 stamps 20c, blue and orange, cancelled in Paris and Brussels. Small marginal tear, a few pinholes in the folds, otherwise very good condition.
Long missive in a tight but legible handwriting, addressed by a beleaguered Parisian to a wine merchant friend residing in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode (Brussels agglomeration). "I always hoped to be able to give you news by the ordinary way, but as the investment is prolonged and no one can know when it will be broken, I entrust this letter to a balloon in the hope that a favourable wind will make it reach its destination happily. He details in particular the problems of supply, rationing, price increases of various foodstuffs. Morale remains good: "there is still two months of food. By then, everyone hopes that we will be rid of the Prussians around Paris and that they will be sent home with the honors they deserve. "In spite of all the little miseries inherent to being under siege, Paris remains calm and does not complain [...]".
From September 23, 1870 to January 28, 1871, more than 60 balloons carried more than two million letters out of besieged Paris.
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