2016 Rarities of the World continued...

EXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. A SUPERB DOUBLE-RATE FRANKING WITH THE ATHENS PROVISIONAL.

Ex Hall. With 2007 P.F. certificate. Scott value for a pair on cover is $7,500.00 (Image)

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FINE APPEARANCE. ONE OF ONLY FOUR RECORDED COVERS BEARING THE ATHENS PROVISIONAL TETE-BECHE VARIETY. THIS IS THE EARLIEST RECORDED USE ON COVER.

Only four post offices are known to have produced tete-beche provisional varieties: Athens, Macon, Memphis and Nashville. In each case the tete-beche multiple was created by the work-and-turn printing method, as opposed to an inverted cliche among subjects on the plate. All are extremely rare. Of the Athens 5c tete-beche, our records contain four covers, three of which are listed in Crown

1) Nov. 14 (1861) to Capt. George Hillyer, the cover offered here

2) Nov. 25 (1861) to Dr. E. D. Newton, ex Brooks, Jack Solomon, and D.K. Collection (Siegel Sale 1022, lot 1005, realized $15,000 hammer)

3) Dec. 2 (1861) to Capt. Porter King, ex Brooks, Weatherly, Kilbourne and D.K. Collection (Siegel Sale 1022, lot 1005, realized $17,500 hammer)

4) Jan. 6 (1862) to A. H. Stephens, ex Ferrary

There are three additional off-cover tete-beche pairs: 1) large margins, ex Caspary; 2) severely cut into (Siegel Sale 280); and 3) top of Type II clipped off down to oval, originally on a cover to Dr. E. D. Newton, ex Walcott, the pair was removed and offered off cover in the Meroni sale.

With 2013 C.S.A. certificate. (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. ONLY SEVEN EXAMPLES OF THE 5-CENT "McCCRMICK" ERROR ARE RECORDED ON COVER.

Our records contain seven on-cover examples of the 5c "McCcrmick" error (11X2a):

1) Dec. 26, 1861, to Capt. Favrot, Berwick City La., ex Caspary, Lilly, Graves and D.K. Collection

2) Date? (possibly the Oct. 24 cover in Phillips census), George A. Pike return card cover to Mt. Lebanon, ex Meroni, Green

3) Feb. 20, 1862, to Miss Jeanie Mort, Vernon Miss., ex Hessel (incorrectly listed in Phillips census as Feb. 26)

4) Feb. 3, 1862, to Henry Johnson, Rosedale La., ex Walcott and Agre, the cover offered here

5) Oct. 15, 1861, to Miss Kittie Mort, Vernon Miss., ex Duveen, offered in our 2012 Rarities sale (Sale 1025, lot 293, realized $3,250 hammer)

6) Aug. 29, 1861, to Capt. Favrot, Ocean Springs Miss., ex Caspary;

7) Feb. 4, 1862, to C.R. Collins, Bayou Sara La., Siegel 1991 Rarities sale

Ex Walcott and Dr. Agre. (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. THIS IS THE UNIQUE CHARLESTON 10-CENT PRESS-PRINTED PALMETTO TREE PROVISIONAL ENVELOPE, USED DURING A SHORTAGE OF CONFEDERATE GENERAL ISSUES.

After graduation from Princeton University, Alfred Huger returned to Charleston to run his plantation. Huger received his postmaster appointment from President Andrew Jackson on December 19, 1834, and he served until Federal occupation in February 1865. Huger was postmaster in July 1835 when sacks of mail containing abolitionist literature from the North were burned by a pro-slavery mob. After the war Huger declined President Andrew Johnson's offer of reappointment as a U.S. postmaster.

Huger issued press-printed typographic provisional envelopes in the summer of 1861, probably close to the earliest known date of August 16 (Calhoun census). The lithographed adhesive provisional stamp followed in early September 1861. Lithography was used by only three postmasters to print provisional stamps (Charleston, Livingston and Mobile). The first supply of Confederate General Issue stamps was placed on sale on December 7, 1861, and the provisionals were withdrawn from sale. However, provisionals purchased by the public prior to withdrawal continued to be used concurrently with the General Issues. In June and July 1862 the Charleston post office ran short of General Issue stamps, and provisionals were re-released. The latest recorded use of a Charleston provisional is dated August 5, 1862, with a mixed franking of the 5c De La Rue Print (Scott 6) and 5c adhesive (Richard L. Calhoun, "Inventory of Charleston, South Carolina, Postmaster Provisionals," Confederate Philatelist, Jan.-Feb. 1989).

It is reported that the stamps and envelopes were printed by the large Charleston-based printing firm of Evans and Cogswell. According to http://www.csa-scla.org : "...Evans & Cogswell Printing Company was retained as printers to the Secession Convention, and daily printed the minutes of the Convention in S.C., and printed the documents that communicated the secession to the other Southern States. The Ordinance of Secession, one of the most fateful and fatal documents in America's history, was lithographed by Evans & Cogswell. During the War Between the States, Evans and Cogswell printed small denomination currency, Government bonds, the Soldier's Prayer Book, books on war tactics, stamps, and medical books for the Confederacy."

This Palmetto Tree design is unique among Southern Postmasters' Provisionals. On this entire -- the sole surviving example -- the woodcut is printed in dark blue, identical in shade and impression to the 5c provisional envelope stamp issued in August 1861. The circular datestamp is struck at the center of the upper half of the entire. Charleston did not have a separate cancelling device and used the datestamp to cancel adhesive stamps; therefore, the position of the complete datestamp on this entire confirms the presence of the printed provisional at upper right and precludes the removal of an adhesive stamp from the envelope.

The first Charleston provisionals were the press-printed 5c envelopes issued in August 1861 and used consistently until the estimated 5,000 prepared were sold out in November 1861 (dates range from August 16 to November 12, 1861). Approximately 25,000 5c adhesive stamps were produced and placed on sale as early as September 1861 (earliest recorded date is September 4). Both provisionals were used concurrently with the handstamped "Paid" markings, but the surcharge on the price of provisionals made the stamps and envelopes less popular with the public. When the General Issues were finally received and put on sale on December 7, 1861, the large number of 5c provisionals still on hand was withdrawn, although they remained valid for prepayment.

In June 1862 the supply of 5c General Issues available at the Charleston post office was running low, and Postmaster Huger authorized the renewed sale of provisionals. More than a dozen examples of the 5c provisional stamp are known used in the months of June, July and August 1862. The handstamped "Paid" marking was also used again briefly in June 1862 after having been previously retired in December 1861. The rate increase from 5c to 10c for any distance became effective July 1, 1862, during this shortage of General Issues. Charleston covers are recorded in early July 1862 with the 5c Blue Lithograph and 10c Rose Lithograph stamps, but these are scarce, indicating that only a small supply of the newer General Issues was available. Further evidence of the shortage is an August 5, 1862, cover with a combination of the 5c De La Rue stamp and 5c provisional for the 10c rate. A supply of press-printed 10c envelopes from an earlier printing was probably released in anticipation of the July 1862 rate change and in response to the shortage of General Issues. The provisional envelope's great rarity is probably due to the arrival of 10c Rose stamps in July 1862, which are found on covers dated July 3, 4, 5 and continuing on with frequency until replaced by the De La Rue and Richmond 5c printings.

This unique example of the 10c Palmetto Tree entire was discovered by the late Dr. Don Preston Peters of Lynchburg, Virginia, in an original correspondence to A. O. Norris at Anderson Court House, South Carolina. Norris was a newspaper publisher and, after the war, a probate judge. The receipt docketing indicates that the sender was J. H. Johnson. There was an ordnance sergeant with the 10th South Carolina Infantry Regiment named J. H. Johnson, who might be the same person.

We regard this entire as one of the most important and distinctive of all Southern Postmasters' Provisionals, by virtue of its extreme rarity, the distinctive Palmetto Tree design, and as one of the few 10c provisionals issued east of the Mississippi.

Ex Dr. Peters, Heathcote, Dr. Graves, Birkinbine and D.K. collection. With Ashbrook letter (Image)

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VERY FINE COVER. THE FINEST KNOWN STRIKE OF THE KNOXVILLE "PAID 5" HANDSTAMP ON THE 5-CENT PROVISIONAL STAMP. A COLORFUL COVER IN IMMACULATE CONDITION.

Charles W. Charlton (1825-1889), a Methodist minister and newspaper journalist, was Knoxville's Confederate postmaster. He issued adhesive stamps and envelopes in 5c and 10c denominations. Charlton's stamps were nearly identical to the stamps issued by his close acquaintance, William D. McNish, the postmaster of Nashville. It is possible that both the Nashville and Knoxville adhesives were engraved by a Nashville resident, Dan Adams, and printed in the offices of the Nashville Daily Gazette. When the Knoxville engraving was made, Charlton's name was misspelled: the letters "C.H." appear instead of "C.W." or "CH." (for Charles). The woodcut engraving was used to make stereotype plates. There was more than one printing, including reprints made after the war (the printings and papers are described in Confederate Philatelist articles by Richard Graham and Peter W. W. Powell).

Shortly before U.S. forces occupied Knoxville in September 1863, Postmaster Charlton sent the stamps on hand and post office effects to the postmaster at Dalton, Georgia. The stamps were never seen again (J. L. Poklis, "C. W. Charlton Comments on His Confederate Postage Stamps," Confederate Philatelist, Apr.-Jun. 2008). After the war Charlton became editor of the Knoxville Whig.

There are probably no more than ten covers extant with the Knoxville 5c provisional (either shade) tied by a handstamped marking -- more than half of the known covers are manuscript cancelled. The Knoxville cancellations -- the double-circle and large-circle town datestamps, and the "Paid 5" in circle -- are rarely struck clearly.

Ex Caspary, Gallagher, Hill and D.K. Collection. With 1998 P.F. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. THE UNIQUE KNOXVILLE 10-CENT RED POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL ON ORANGE PAPER. ONE OF THE GREAT CONFEDERATE PROVISIONAL RARITIES AND ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL DESIGNS USED FOR A PRESS-PRINTED POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL ENTIRE.

The discovery of this 10c envelope design, which is similar to the 5c, is discussed in an article by Peter Powell in the Jan.-March 2005 issue of the Confederate Philatelist. He quotes the Redfield Stamp Weekly of April 30, 1910: Mr. W.H. Legg has turned up a Knoxville 10 cent red, of the same design as the 5 cent blue. His copy is on white paper and Mr. John Luff, in the course of investigating the specimen, succeeded in discovering a copy of the same stamp on orange.” Legg was an early dealer who passed away in 1915. Powell traces ownership to the famous Worthington collection, then to Lichtenstein. The Red on White next appeared at auction in the Caspary sale, and again in the 1987 auction of Scott Gallagher’s Tennessee collection. The Red on Orange appeared in the 1933 Hind sale. Mr. Powell successfully united both the unique white paper and orange paper examples for the first time since 1917 when Lichtenstein purchased them as part of the Worthington collection.

Ex Luff (discoverer), Worthington, Lichtenstein, Hind and Powell. With 1992 P.F. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE. AN EXCEPTIONALLY FRESH AND CLEAN COVER BEARING THE BI-COLORED PROVISIONAL STAMP OF LENOIR, NORTH CAROLINA. ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE WITH THE MILITARY ADDRESS TO A MEMBER OF THE LENOIR'S NAMESAKE FAMILY.

James Harper (1799-1879) served as postmaster of Lenoir from 1841 until sometime in 1862 or 1863. His son, George Washington Finley (G. W. F.) Harper (1834-1921), was the assistant postmaster and, according to the written affidavits, was responsible for carving the woodcut die used to make the provisional stamps and envelopes (see Crown book, pp. 172-178, 651-652). In 1862, G. W. F. Harper enlisted as a private in Co. H, 8th Regiment, N.C. Infantry, and eventually earned the rank of major.

The Lenoir adhesive stamp is one of three bi-colored provisionals issued by Southern postmasters (the others were issued at Baton Rouge La. and Greenvile Ala.). Approximately 29 covers bearing the Lenoir adhesive stamp are known. The same woodcut device was applied directly to envelopes, as evidenced by the one recorded cut square with the single 5c impression (Scott 49XU1) and the unique 5c plus 5c entire (Scott 49XU2).

Thomas Isaac Lenoir and Col. Joseph Cathey assembled a company of North Carolina mountaineers into a fighting unit he called the "Haywood Highlanders." On July 18, 1861, Captain Lenoir led the Haywood Highlanders to Asheville to join the war, and they were eventually absorbed into the 25th N.C. Infantry under the command of Thomas Lanier Clingman. Clingman's Brigade fought at Goldsboro, Battery Wagner, Drewry's Bluff, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Globe Tavern, Fort Fisher and Bentonville.

This cover to Thomas Lenoir was addressed by his brother, Walter Waightstill Lenoir. In 1862 Walter was commissioned into Co. H, 58th N.C. Partisan Rangers. He was promoted to captain and transferred to Co. A, 36th N.C. Infantry on July 18, 1862. A battlefield wound in September 1862 resulted in the amputation of his right leg, and he returned home.

Illustrated in Crown book (page 175). Ex Manning, Brooks, Weatherly and D.K. Collection. With 1972 P.F. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE. AN ATTRACTIVE COVER BEARING THE BI-COLORED PROVISIONAL STAMP OF LENOIR, NORTH CAROLINA.

James Harper (1799-1879) served as postmaster of Lenoir from 1841 until sometime in 1862 or 1863. His son, George Washington Finley (G. W. F.) Harper (1834-1921), was the assistant postmaster and, according to the written affidavits, was responsible for carving the woodcut die used to make the provisional stamps and envelopes (see Crown book, pp. 172-178, 651-652). In 1862, G. W. F. Harper enlisted as a private in Co. H, 8th Regiment, N.C. Infantry, and eventually earned the rank of major.

The Lenoir adhesive stamp is one of three bi-colored provisionals issued by Southern postmasters (the others were issued at Baton Rouge La. and Greenville Ala.). Approximately 29 covers bearing the Lenoir adhesive stamp are known. The same woodcut device was applied directly to envelopes, as evidenced by the one recorded cut square with the single 5c impression (Scott 49XU1) and the unique 5c plus 5c entire (Scott 49XU2).

Ex Worthington, Engel and Dr. Brandon. With 1971 C.S.A. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE STAMP AND ONE OF THE MORE ATTRACTIVE OF THE APPROXIMATELY 30 LYNCHBURG PROVISIONAL STAMPS KNOWN ON COVER.

Major Robert Henry Glass (1822-1896) was Lynchburg's Confederate postmaster and the father of Carter Glass, a prominent U.S. congressman and senator who co-sponsored both the 1913 Glass-Owen Act, which created the Federal Reserve System, and the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which enforced the separation of investment banking and commercial banking, and established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

R. H. Glass was the patriarch of a Virginia family that owned the Lynchburg Daily Republican newspaper. An incident with some postal relevance occurred in 1860, when Glass' associate editor killed a rival newspaperman who had accused Glass of using his position as postmaster to prevent the delivery of his competitor's papers. The dispute nearly resulted in a duel, but was diffused by Glass' wife. An exchange of letters between Postmaster Glass and Horace Greeley, publisher of the anti-slavery New York Tribune, proves that Glass would refuse to deliver newspapers he considered "incendiary" (Leon Whipple, The Story of Civil Liberty in the United States).

According to The Confederate Postmaster Provisionals of Virginia by Richard L. Calhoun, the U.S. Post Office appointed Alexander McDonald to be Lynchburg's postmaster on March 27, 1861. Glass' appointment as C.S.A. postmaster was recommended in the C.S. Senate on July 20 and 30, and confirmed on September 6, but he probably replaced McDonald after Virginia seceded in April.

The Lynchburg typeset provisional envelope was issued very close to the June 1, 1861, inaugural date of the Confederate postal system. The earliest recorded date of use is June 4 (1861), and the example offered in this sale is dated June 5 (1861). The envelopes were press-printed from a stock "5" engraving used in bank note production and the typeset word "Paid." The subsequent adhesive provisionals, issued in August, were a step up from the envelopes and closely resemble the Memphis provisional. Postmaster Glass stated that he copied the Memphis design after seeing the stamps on incoming mail. The Lynchburg plate was stereotyped from a master woodcut engraving. The size and layout of the plate are not yet known. The production has been attributed to Glass' newspaper office, but no documentary evidence has been located.

Of the 25 single Lynchburg provisional stamps recorded on cover in the Calhoun census, about one-third have stamps with four full margins, while the majority is cut into on one side. The few known pairs demonstrate the extremely narrow spacing between stamps.

Ex Moody, Muzzy, Dr. Simon and D.K. Collection (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE STAMP ON A BEAUTIFUL COVER. ONLY FOUR OR FIVE EXAMPLES OF THIS WESLEYAN FEMALE COLLEGE CORNER CARD DESIGN ARE KNOWN WITH THE MACON PROVISIONAL.

The person most likely to be the Macon postmaster who issued the provisional stamps is Dr. Edward L. Strohecker, a graduate of the Medical College of South Carolina, who was elected three times as Macon's mayor. He helped to organize the Georgia Medical Association, and travelled to visit and treat Confederate troops during the war. Another postmaster and possible stamp issuer is Washington Poe, a relative of the poet, who also served a term as mayor and was elected as a Union delegate to the Georgia Secession Convention in Milledgeville.

All of the Macon provisional stamps were printed from typeset forms. The 2c and two of the three 5c settings simply state the denomination and nothing else, and they were the first stamps printed. These were followed by the four-line "square" stamp, offered here, which includes the words "Post Office" and "Macon, Ga." The order of issue is confused by the Scott Catalogue listings.

The Macon provisional with Post Office, Macon, Ga.” added to the setting is very rare on cover (Peter W. W. Powell reported 24 on cover in the Confederate Philatelist, Sep.-Oct. 2000). Only three advertising covers are known with this stamp, in addition to four or five printed college covers.

Ex Seybold (with his backstamp), Emerson, Lehman, Haas and Dr. Brandon. Scott Retail for normal cover (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF THE MACON 5-CENT FLORAL BORDER PROVISIONAL STAMP KNOWN ON COVER.

Ex Caspary, Lehman, Haas and D.K. Collection. With 1956 P.F. certificate (Image)

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