Opium

1866 · rif. BK0123 — Smyrna Turkey 1866. Autograph commercial letter signed by Cousinery & Fils to Lanman & Kemp New York. Stampless folded letter carried by the Messageries Maritimes steamer Volga departing Smyrna November 9 and arriving at Marseille November 14. Blue oval Cousinery & Fils handstamp and circular "MARSEILLE À LYON" traveling-post-office transit mark dated November 16 on the reverse; black circular "NEW YORK / 45 / DEC / 61 / NOTES" December 3 arrival marking on the front assessing forty-five cents in depreciated United States notes equivalent to the thirty-cent gold rate; manuscript "18" debit marking also apparently miscalculated. 1 pp. 8 x 10 ¼ inches. Old folds; light wear; fine to very fine. A commercial letter documenting the export of Ottoman opium from Smyrna to the United States. Cousinery & Fils confirm the purchase and shipment of five cases for the New York drug firm Lanman & Kemp invoiced at 84360 piastres and balanced through a £671 draft on London. The merchants describe the Smyrna opium market as being in a "state of dullness" with little demand and only limited sales of old and new drugs. They nevertheless report rumors that a Dutch company had ordered another 150 baskets which might strengthen prices. Responding to instructions from New York they agree to suspend purchases for one month and cancel two intended November shipments. A memorandum on the reverse records recent shipments aboard the steamers Sardis and Sidore and calculates a total of 380 cases of opium sent to the United States during 1866. A concise record of the nineteenth-century opium trade connecting Ottoman producers European financial intermediaries and the American pharmaceutical market. . unknown books