AN envelope which survived the Tay rail bridge disaster in 1879, one of only 10 items of mail from the fateful train journey, is to be sold at auction later this year, Lynne Robertson writes.
Addressed to Mr David Bryce Smith of Anderson's Lane, Lochee, the envelope is expected to realise #600 when it goes under the hammer at Sotheby's in London in July.
It is believed to have been recovered from only two mailbags washed up on the beach at Broughty Ferry after the bridge collapsed in a post-Christmas gale. The structure, then the longest of its kind in the world, claimed the lives of 90 passengers and crew when it collapsed on December 28, 1879.
The mail, originally posted in Chelsea, was recovered and sent on to Dundee for distribution and delivery.
The water-stained envelope clearly bears its original postmark and a Victorian stamp.
Sotheby's stamp expert David Wright said it was the historical importance of the envelope which lay in its value.
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