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FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE USE OF THE 2-CENT 1863 "RED JACK" GENERAL ISSUE FOR THE 10-CENT RATE AND TIED BY THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA GRID.
Ex Corwin and Walske (Image)
FINE APPEARING AND VERY RARE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPRESS COVER -- REPUTED TO BE THE ONLY ONE WITH ITS ORIGINAL LETTER.
According to a notation by A. Earl Weatherly, this is the only 40c Trans-Mississippi Express cover with its original letter, but we cannot verify this claim
Ex Walske. Illustrated in Shenfield book and listed in Krieger as E11 (page 41). (Image)
VERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE FLAG-OF-TRUCE COVER FROM CUBA TO SOUTH CAROLINA VIA NEW YORK CITY, FORTRESS MONROE AND RICHMOND, VIRGINIA.
This letter from Oskar Aichel follows earlier letters known from his correspondence (see Siegel Sale 988, lot 164). Oskar describes how he is "well pleased with Havana...exceedingly healthy...making good progress in establishing my name, indeed much more than I, at first could expect." He goes on to state that he has eight pupils, four of which cover his expenses (possibly as an art teacher). This contrasts sharply with a letter he wrote the previous December, in which he describes the difficulty of finding work at reasonable wages and characterizes locals as "those mis-trusting vicious creoles."
Letters originating outside the continental United States and carried into the Confederacy under the flag of truce are extremely rare -- far rarer, in fact, than blockade-run covers into Confederate ports. (Image)
VERY FINE. A RARE INCOMING BLOCKADE COVER TO THE C.S.A. VIA MOBILE ALABAMA. ONLY NINE ARE RECORDED IN THE SPECIAL ROUTES CENSUS.
The exact sequence of handling for this cover and letter is difficult to determine, but after originating in Havana, it most likely was carried in an outer envelope (discarded) addressed to DeBow in Mobile Ala. From there it was franked with the 10c Confederate stamp and put into the mails as addressed, to Columbus Miss. Evidently, LeBlanc was not there, so the letter was opened (the "unsealed" part of the note) and the return address instructions (to Leon Seré in the text of the letter) were used to get the letter to Augusta. Seré added the "unsealed" note at Augusta upon its arrival on Nov. 7. We are grateful to Steven C. Walske for his interpretation.
An entry from the Louisiana State University library provides a picture of LeBlanc's activities during the war: "LeBlanc, C.E. Papers, Mss. 1315, 1864-1865 [Columbus, Mississippi]. Location: Reel 12, Confederate Military Manuscripts, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge: This collection consists of six items, papers, 1864-1865, of C. E. LeBlanc, deputy Confederate government agent for the purchase of cotton. Papers concern the sale of certain Confederate property in Columbus, Mississippi, and its subsequent confiscation by a U.S. Treasury agent. Additional items include a promissory note, a contract for the delivery of cotton, and a broadside announcing a lecture to be presented by J. D. B. DeBow in Columbus, Mississippi."
James D. B. DeBow, to whose care this cover was directed, was an American publisher and slavery advocate best known for his influential magazine DeBow's Review. A resident of New Orleans, DeBow was exiled to Mobile after the capture of New Orleans in April 1861. He later became one of the founding members of the Louisiana Relief Committee.
Special Routes census no. BI-MOB-8 (Image)