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VERY FINE. A RARE COMBINATION OF 15-CENT LINCOLN AND PRUSSIAN ONE-KREUZER STAMPS FOR THE BREMEN-HAMBURG MAIL RATE AND LOCAL FORWARDING POSTAGE.
This cover was addressed to Sidney Shepard, in care of the U.S. Consul in Frankfurt. The consul directed it to a local Frankfurt hotel and stamped it with 1kr Prussian postage. (Image)
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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. A REMARKABLE USE OF THE 15-CENT LINCOLN MEMORIAL ISSUE ON A PRESIDENTIAL IMPRINT COVER TO GERMANY, SENT DURING THE ADMINISTRATION OF ULYSSES S. GRANT AND SIGNED BY HIS PERSONAL SECRETARY, ORVILLE E. BABCOCK.
This cover was mailed in April 1869, just six weeks after Ulysses S. Grant took the oath of office and Orville E. Babcock was appointed to be his personal secretary.
Free franking privileges were not abolished until 1873 (also during Grant's administration). Official correspondence to foreign consuls was frequently sent without postage in diplomatic pouches handled through the State Department. Some letters were mailed through normal postal channels, as in this case. The treaty rate to France was 15c until the end of 1869. As far as we are aware, this is the only example of the 15c Lincoln sent from the White House. It seems to be more than coincidence that President Grant's secretary used a stamp picturing the martyred President Lincoln's image.
Orville E. Babcock, a Union officer who served as aide-de-camp to General Grant during the war, became President Grant's personal secretary in 1869. In 1875 Babcock was cleared of charges in the Whiskey Ring scandal, thanks in large part to Grant's personal testimony, but Babcock's connection to various nefarious activities caused Grant to distance himself from his former secretary after the Whiskey Ring trial. (Image)