Forwarded by Wells & Co and Gracie and Sergeant

A letter written at Naples on 28th April 1839. It was sent under separate cover to Paris, Wells & Co in Le Havre probably by packet to Marseilles and then by French railways to Paris and Havre. Wells struck their cachet on the reverse of the cover and nominated the "Rhone" to carry it. However it was probably combined with a number of other covers and sent as a parcel thus saving the decime de mer to Gracie and Sergeant in New York. Certainly it did not enter the French postal system in Le Havre. In New York Gracie and Sergeant_ opened the parcel and put individual letters like this one in the post, having struck their cachet on the reverse. As a consequence it does not carry a New York Ship mark and was only charged 12 ½ cents for the transfer to Philadelphia, thus saving another 2 cents. The total for the parcel probably amounted to a significant saving.