VICTORIA, QUEEN - Empty envelope addressed in Queen Victoria's own handwriting to the Duchess of Sutherland.

Mourning envelope, cloth-lined on the inside. 10.5 x 22.5 cm. Recto handwritten address 'The/ Duchess of Sutherland/ The Queen'. Recto handwritten address ‘The/ Duchess of Sutherland/ The Queen’ in the hand of Queen Victoria. Verso the Queen’s lacquer seal in black. Envelope roughly torn open, two vertical folds, a bit soiled. Queen Victoria was great friends with Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland (1806-1868), but this envelope might have been addressed to her daughter-in-law as well, Anne Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland (1829-1888), who was Mistress of the Robes to the Queen from 1870 to 1874. The time window of this envelope is 1861-1888. It was in the autograph collection of eccentric journalist John Arlott.