[GOLD RUSH] Printed circular with price list for foodstuffs, building materials, wines and spirits, tea and coffee, tobacco, wool, hides, gold etc.; mailed to Launceston from Melbourne on the day of issue, 4 June 1853.

Melbourne : Hough & Co., Printers, Elizabeth St., 4 June 1853. Quarto bifolium, 270 x 210 mm, blue laid paper, letter press on the first side only and folded for mailing, with manuscript address panel on the last side; sent from Melbourne by Coffey, Hill & Co. to ‘W Johnston Esq, Launceston, V. D. L.’; unframed PAID MELBOURNE JU 4 1853 cancel (with crown) in red; framed circular LAUNCESTON TASMANIA 6 JU 6 receiving postmark in black; manuscript rated 3 in red with manuscript 4 (to pay) in black; outer side endorsed in manuscript by the receive ‘Coffey Hill Co. Melbourne 4 June Recd. 6 ditto 1853 Ansd.’; small loss at corner of outer side (not affecting print); very clean and near fine.

In 1853, at the height of the Victorian gold rushes, enterprising Melbourne importers and exporters Coffey, Hill & Co. had their regular circulars published in the Launceston, Tasmania newspaper The Cornwall Chronicle. This scarce example of one of their circulars, specially printed for mailing, was addressed to a Launceston customer and is testimony to the flourishing trade between the mainland and northern Tasmania at this time.

Hot off the Hough & Co. press, the circular was posted on 4 June and was received by Mr. Johnston just two days later. It takes the form of a short bulletin on recent shipping activity in Melbourne, noting the availability or scarcity of particular commodities, and including the rates for staples such as bread and flour, potatoes, bacon, hams, cheese, and butter, for building materials, and also for gold and wool. The bulletin is followed by a Prices Current list which itemises, in tabular form, a wide range of products and has a column for the merchant’s remarks, such as “Scarce”, “Overstocked”, “Fair demand”, “Little offering”, or “Good supply”. At the foot is a summary of Coffey, Hill & Co.’s imports for the preceding month, May 1853.