1847 Baltimore Leather Market Letter Poland Jenkins & Co PA Tanner John Kauffelt For Sale
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1847 Baltimore Leather Market Letter Poland Jenkins & Co PA Tanner John Kauffelt:
$249.49
Offered here is an original April 20, 1847 manuscript business letter and integral stampless cover from the prominent Baltimore hide-and-leather firm Poland, Jenkins & Co., addressed to John Kauffelt of Wrightsville, York County, Pennsylvania.
This is an unusually content-rich piece of pre-Civil War American tanning and leather-trade history. Rather than a routine invoice or request for payment, the letter gives Kauffelt a contemporary Baltimore leather and hide market report, discussing a shipment, the sale of hides, demand for calfskins, and current prices for several grades of hides and finished or unfinished leather.
The identification of the sender is supported by contemporary Baltimore directories. An 1842 directory specifically lists “Poland, Jenkins & Co” as “hyde and leather dealers” at 13 East Water Street, while the 1847–48 directory identifies both Thomas C. Jenkins and Joseph W. Jenkins with the firm.
LetterDated:
“Balto April 20th 1847”
and addressed:
“Mr John Kauffelt”
The letter begins by acknowledging Kauffelt's earlier correspondence of April 15 and an associated shipment/account. Among the more interesting passages are:
“we recd 4 … hides, two of them poor…”
followed by an accounting for the four hides.
The firm then reports directly on conditions in the Baltimore leather market:
“Leather is doing well…”
and gives a series of prices for different types and grades of leather.
One particularly interesting passage concerns calfskins:
“Calf skin in the rough in great demand at 45¢”
The firm also quotes finished skirting at approximately 20–21¢, followed by prices for green salted/native hides and other categories.
Perhaps the most revealing commercial passage is the firm's invitation for additional consignments:
“If you send us any leather, we will do the best we can with it…”
The letter concludes:
“Very Respectfully,
Poland Jenkins & Co”
Some individual words and period trade abbreviations are difficult to decipher, so buyers should consult the photographs for the exact manuscript wording.
John Kauffelt — Wrightsville Tanner & Pennsylvania Public OfficialThe recipient is John Kauffelt of Wrightsville, York County, Pennsylvania, identified in period and genealogical sources as an early Wrightsville tanner and businessman.
Kauffelt was considerably more than an ordinary tradesman. He participated in York County and Pennsylvania public life, serving as York County commissioner, York County sheriff, and a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives during the 1820s.
His occupation makes the contents of this letter particularly significant. Poland, Jenkins & Co. was not simply sending an unrelated commercial circular to a politician; it was corresponding with a Pennsylvania tanner about the actual leather and hide trade in which both parties participated.
The document therefore provides direct evidence of the commercial relationship connecting the tanning districts of Pennsylvania with the major Baltimore market.
Thomas Courtney JenkinsOne of the principal figures behind Poland, Jenkins & Co. was Thomas Courtney Jenkins (1802–1881), a prominent Baltimore businessman and financier.
Jenkins was the son of William Jenkins (1767–1843), himself a successful Baltimore leather merchant. Thomas studied at St. Mary's College in Emmitsburg before entering his father's leather business. In 1822 he received an interest in the family firm, but six years later left to establish Poland & Jenkins with Poland Adams.
Jenkins subsequently became much more than a leather merchant. He became a director of the Mechanics' Bank in 1832, remaining associated with it for decades, and was involved in major railroad and transportation enterprises, including the Northern Central Railway and Merchants & Miners Transportation Company.
Importantly, the 1847–48 Baltimore directory—the period of this exact letter—lists “Thomas C. [Jenkins], firm Poland Jenkins & Co.” This firmly establishes his connection with the company when this correspondence was written.
Poland AdamsPoland Adams was Jenkins's original business partner in the enterprise that became Poland, Jenkins & Co.
Jenkins left his father's leather concern around 1828 specifically to establish the new firm with Adams. The partnership developed into one of Baltimore's established hide-and-leather concerns.
Adams's name survived in the firm's title even as the Jenkins family's involvement expanded, making this letter part of the documentary record of an important early Baltimore commercial house.
Joseph W. JenkinsAnother member of the business was Joseph W. Jenkins. Contemporary Baltimore directories identify him directly with Poland, Jenkins & Co.
The 1845 Baltimore directory lists both Joseph W. Jenkins and Thomas C. Jenkins as members of Poland, Jenkins & Co., and the 1847–48 directory again associates both men with the firm. Maryland State Archives
This means that at the precise period in which the present letter was written, Poland, Jenkins & Co. was an established Jenkins-family-associated Baltimore leather concern rather than merely a transient merchant partnership.
Postal HistoryThe original letter survives with its integral address panel:
Mr. John Kauffelt
Wrightsville
York County
Penna
The cover bears an attractive blue BALTIMORE, MD. circular postmark, dated approximately April 21, only one day after the letter was written.
Beside it is a large blue encircled “5” postal rate marking, representing the five-cent domestic letter rate applicable to a letter traveling less than 300 miles under the postal reforms of the period.
The reverse retains the contemporary filing docket:
“Poland Jenkins & Co
April 25 / 1847”
as well as a remnant/impression of the original red wax seal.
The sequence is particularly appealing: written in Baltimore April 20, postmarked April 21, sent north to Wrightsville, and apparently received and docketed April 25.
Historical ImportanceThis document has several intersecting areas of historical interest.
It is firstly a primary-source record of the American leather and tanning industry in 1847, preserving actual contemporary wholesale prices rather than retrospective descriptions of the trade.
It also documents commerce between Baltimore and south-central Pennsylvania, showing how a Wrightsville tanner communicated with a major Baltimore hide-and-leather house regarding shipments, sales, market conditions, and prospective consignments.
The statement that “Leather is doing well”, the observation that calfskins were “in great demand,” and the succession of commodity quotations amount to a miniature Baltimore leather-market report preserved in manuscript.
Finally, both sides of the correspondence are historically identifiable. The recipient, John Kauffelt, was a Pennsylvania tanner, businessman and public official, while Poland, Jenkins & Co. included Thomas Courtney Jenkins, who rose from Baltimore's leather business to become an important banker, financier and transportation entrepreneur. Period Baltimore directories independently confirm Poland, Jenkins & Co. as hide and leather dealers; by 1853–54 the firm was advertised as dealers in “hide, leather and oil.”
An excellent piece for collections relating to American tanning, leather and hides, Baltimore commerce, Pennsylvania business history, York County, Wrightsville, industrial history, commodity pricing, economic history, manuscript Americana, or U.S. stampless postal history.
ConditionOriginal folded manuscript letter with integral address leaf. Expected folds, toning, handling wear and scattered age-related marks consistent with an approximately 180-year-old commercial document. Remnant/impression of the original wax seal remains on the reverse. Blue Baltimore postal markings remain readily visible. Please examine all photographs carefully for exact condition, handwriting, markings and contents.
Original 1847 manuscript—not a reproduction.
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