1841 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED [ALS] AND HANDWRITTEN BY AN INTERESTING BALTIMORE MERCHANT AND ONE TIME CONSUL OF THE KINGDOM OF HAWAII WITH INTELLIGENCE REGARDING THE WINE TRADE

On offer is an original one [1] page letter, approx. 7-7/8" x 9-3/4", dated at Baltimore, Md., Dec. 7, 1841, from G.S. Oldfield, to T.J. Tobias, at New York City. Folded letter has blue "BALTIMORE/MD." cds postmark and manuscript "18-3/4" rate. The writer of this letter, Granville S. Oldfield, was a Commission Merchant in Baltimore, and was for several years the Consul of the Kingdom of Hawaii for Md. & Delaware. He was a patron of the arts, and his great collection of paintings of English Masters was auctioned in NYC, by court order in 1862. Tobias was an eminent Jewish merchant in Baltimore and New York. In his later years he was primarily in the wine and liquor trade. He was born in England, and was a nephew of Morris Tobias, the famous watch & chronometer maker of London, who was most active in the 1790's. The letter has great content about the wine business, in which Oldfield writes that sales of Sweet Malaga are brisk and he urges Tobias to buy up as much as he can from the ships arriving at New York. He also writes of the market for Port, and prospects for the Spring. "I notice Sweet Malaga is selling at 30c, six months credit, in New York. If you can purchase one or two hundred casks at that price and credit, of a good brand, I recommend your so doing from alongside the vessel of importation. You can easily obtain freight at 15c. Be assured this article will soon advance in price with you. It is selling here at 35c, and you will not obtain it in a week from this at 30c. Peter Harmony, Francis and others have...late supplies, therefore look out at once. I will send you the Malensey, as it will not sell here. The Port is moving slowly but surely. We shall have a fair trade all the Winter, and our Spring sales will open early and bravely. I wish I could have heard friend Cuthbertson make that speech at the great dinner the other day...." VG.