Brainard & Co. and Hale & Co., Red Oval Brainard & Co. Forwarding Handstamp with Hale Collect on 1845 Stampless Folded Letter, Troy to Hartford

Folded letter privately carried entirely outside the mails via two independent companies. Entered Brainard & Co.’s office in Troy, N.Y., where an agent carried it to Albany and placed it aboard a Hudson River steamboat for New York City. From there, it was transferred to Hale & Co., which transported it via Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River to Hartford. Struck with red oval "FORWARDED / BY / BRAINARD & CO. / TROY" and boxed "COLLECT / SIX CENTS / HALE & CO." handstamps.

Not recorded in the Lyons census of Brainard covers.