1846 Letter

Howdy all,

At coin shows I find a lot of antiques. When I was at my local coin show last month (July), I found a dealer who was selling letters, stamps, and post cards. I found this letter in a box of mixed post cards and letters. This is a business letter to Gould & Bulkley, the content of this letter was from Baldwin & Co. I have no idea on who these people/companies are. I did some research on Gould and Bulkley, and found nothing. Any help on info?
Tried to get a bargain with the dealer, because of the hole.


Aidan

 

What's the topic of the letter? Can you resize your pictures?

 

Yup just resized 'em.

 

Found just a little...
This New York Times article from 1865 (long after your letter) lists old companies of Savannah. About halfway down is listed Brigham, Baldwin & Co., shipping merchants. I think this may be a later version of Baldwin & Co. Based on what I can see, this could very well be a shipping invoice. The letter refers to a boat...

http://www.nytimes.com/1865/01/30/n...annah-gen-grover-last-gen-sherman-s-army.html

I'm not completely sure about Gould & Bulkley. I did find this, which refers to the company related to a court case:
http://books.google.com/books?id=QK4aAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA487&lpg=PA487&dq=gould bulkley augusta georgia&source=bl&ots=BSRyIbW9zo&sig=x9BWQ1woD6tu_4LQAMybJ73CChI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=znTmU6qFDo_2yQT_y4G4Bw&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=gould bulkley augusta georgia&f=false

Also, this city directory of Augusta says that Artemas Gould was affiliated with Gould & Bulkley:

http://books.google.com/books?id=s40yAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA51&lpg=PA51&dq=gould bulkley augusta georgia&source=bl&ots=f7NI8R2Nwr&sig=hAKbrlE-8X_8zYsg46ewxdLqmvo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=znTmU6qFDo_2yQT_y4G4Bw&ved=0CCQQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=gould bulkley augusta georgia&f=false

Fig

 

Here's a letter from another company to Gould & Bulkley from the same year:

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1846-letter-collins-axe-company-111522776

It's always fascinating to me to get little glimpses into life in an earlier era.

 

Maybe I should of said that this is a shipping invoice... among other things.
But thanks for the info, I shall read.

 

There was a description when I bought it: "The business letter is addressed to Gould & Bulkley, Augusta, content from Baldwin & Co. is an invoice for hay and potatoes along with market news. "The boat left last evening. No more arrivals of molasses. One cargo of the former is said to be on the way from Cuba and one presumes more salt will come along soon.""

 

So it seems likely that Baldwin & Co. were shipping merchants, as the 1865 New York Times article said.

 

THIS item indicates that Gould & Bulkley were wholesale grocers.

 

So, it all makes sense!

 

I completely forgot to add this to my last post. In looking for information for the OP I noted that a few references to Gould & Bulkley used that form of the name even after the 1841 dissolution (as the writer of the envelope obviously did, too).