Cape/Transvaal: Historic 1873 cover Ladysmith/Riversdale/Cape Town/Potchefstroom/Pretoria. See below

On offer is an opened-up envelope posted at Ladysmith (18-11-1873) in the Cape Colony showing transit postmarks of Riversdale (19-11-1873), Cape Town (20-11-1873), Potchefstroom (1?-12-1873) and Pretoria arrival postmark (3-12-1873) - a transit period of 15 days.

The cover is addressed to H. Schoeman of the farm "Riet Fontyn" in the Pretoria district.

Hendrik Schoeman, the son of Commandant-General Stephanus Schoeman, became a member of the Executive Council of the Z.A.R. and was prominent in the passive resistance campaign that followed the British Annexation of the Transvaal in 1877. During the Anglo-Boer War he served as a general, commanding the Boer forces besieging Pretoria, and his farm Rietfontein later became a suburb of Pretoria.

Letters to the Orange Free State and the Transvaal from the Cape were charged 4d per half-ounce, and according to the Postal Convention of 1872 mail was to go via the Diamond Fields rather than the O.F.S. and this cover probably went via Griqualand West.

A rare and historic item of Cape/Transvaal postal history.

Condition as per scan below.