Confederacy, Nashville, Tenn., 1861, 5¢ carmine. Large margins to in at left, deep rich color, tied bold blue oval "The Southern Express Co./Nashville/Aug. 23" to Philadelphia, cover sent via Louisville, Ky. for transmission to the North with "Adams Ex. Co./Aug. 14, 1861/Louisville, Ky." cds franked with United States 1861 3¢ rose tied by blue grid & matching "Louisville, Ky./Aug. 25" double circle postmark endorsed "Paid 2/-" (bits) for the Express fee with Due 3 cts applied on top, additional struck with ornate "Rec'd Sept. 7" handstamp, ultimately sent to the Dead Letter Office with large oval handstamp on reverse, 2010 C.S.A. cert. mentions, "Envelope has minor soiling and wear, edge faults across top", we see no evidence of soiling or wear and the edge faults at top are trivial at best where the envelope was opened, Extremely Fine; with 2010 C.S.A. certificate. Scott No. 61X2  Estimate $20,000 - 30,000. One of the Most Outstanding Confederate Covers in Existence.Adams Express Company was required to ensure the prepayment of government postage (Federal and Confederate), although the letter was carried outside the regular mails. Very few covers are recorded with Confederate provisional stamps or markings used in conjunction with thru-the-lines express service. Prior to the discovery of this cover it was thought that only five Nashville provisional/express covers existed. This is the only example of either the 5¢ or 10¢ Nashville Covers with the "Southern Express Co." marking.Of the Nashville provisional/express covers, six are known with the 5¢ and three with the 10¢; As such, they are quite significant artifacts of this remarkable period of postal history. $0 (Image)