The D.K. Collection of Southern Postmasters' Provisionals of the American Civil War continued...

EXTREMELY FINE. ONE OF THREE RECORDED MULTIPLES OF THE ATHENS PROVISIONAL WITH THE TRANSPOSED ARRANGEMENT OF TYPES. AN OUTSTANDING COVER OF GREAT PHILATELIC SIGNIFICANCE AND OVERALL BEAUTY -- PROBABLY THE FINEST OF THE ATHENS PAIRS ON COVERS.

The Athens provisionals issued by Postmaster Crawford were printed from two woodcut typographic engravings. An impression from the plate normally shows the small "Paid" (Type I) at left and the large "Paid" (Type II) at right. Because multiple impressions were made on each sheet, it is possible to have pairs with the type arrangement transposed -- Type II at left and I at right. However, these are extremely rare. A survey of auction catalogues and collections produced only two others: a pair on cover to Dr. Edwin D. Newton, Richmond, ex Moody, and a horizontal strip of four on cover to Vice President Stephens in Richmond, ex Caspary and Kimmel. The Crown census confirms our own.

The addressee, Sgt. S. P. Kenney, was an officer with the Mell Rifles, Company D, Cobb's Legion Infantry. This company was raised in Athens in July 1861 by Patrick Hues Mell, Baptist Minister and Vice Chancellor of the University of Georgia. After Mell resigned due to his wife's death, Thomas U. Camak was named commander. John Boswell Cobb, Robert Goodman and W. A. Winn were named lieutenants. Non-commissioned officers were J. F. Wilson, Wm. A. Gilleland, S. P. Kenney, G. W. Barber, J. J. Mattox, and L. H. Horne. The unit fought throughout the war until two days before Appomattox, when it was surrounded and captured.

The small envelope has a printed corner card of the Lucy Cobb Institute. This girls' school in Athens was founded by Thomas R. R. Cobb and named in honor of his daughter, who died of scarlet fever in 1858 at age 13, shortly before construction was completed and the school's doors were opened.

Ex Tara and Dr. Green. Signed Ashbrook. With 2000 P.F. certificate

History of the Athens provisional: http://siegelauctions.com/enc/pdf/AthensGA.pdf (Image)

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VERY FINE. AN ATTRACTIVE PAIR OF THE ATHENS POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL PAYING THE OVER-500 MILES RATE TO YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA. THIS PAIR REFLECTS THE NORMAL CONFIGURATION OF TYPES I AND II.

The addressee, Lamar Cobb, enlisted as a private in Co. B, 2nd Battalion Ga. Infantry on April 20, 1861. He was appointed Sergeant-Major of the 16th Regiment Ga. Infantry on July 31, 1861, 1st Lieutenant and Aide-de-Camp to his father, General Howell Cobb on November 10, 1862, Capt. & A. A. General on June 25, 1863, and Major & A. A. General on December 14, 1863. He served with General Cobb until February 13, 1865 (http://researchonline.net/gacw/rosters/ 16inffi.htm ).

Francis J. Crown Jr. reports 19 pairs of the Athens 5c Purple provisional on separate covers. We have visually confirmed fourteen of the Crown-listed covers, and we located one additional cover with a pair that is so severely defective, it should be disqualified. The condition of the pair and cover offered here is far superior to the typical condition of the fourteen covers in our photographic records.

Ex Dr. Simon

History of the Athens provisional: http://siegelauctions.com/enc/pdf/AthensGA.pdf (Image)

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VERY FINE. ONE OF THREE RECORDED COVERS BEARING THE ATHENS PROVISIONAL TETE-BECHE VARIETY.

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, Crown records three covers: 1) Nov. 25 (1861) to Dr. E. D. Newton, ex Brooks, Jack Solomon, offered in this sale as lot 1005, 2) Dec. 2 (1861) to Capt. Porter King, ex Brooks, Weatherly and Kilbourne, the cover offered here, 3) 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.

The addressee, Porter King, was captain of Co. G, 4th Ala. Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was made up principally of students at Howard College. Capt. King fought in the First Battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861. After the battle the 4th Alabama Infantry was reorganized, and Porter was not elected captain. He resigned and returned to his plantation near Uniontown and became a Circuit Judge in 1863, serving until 1865, when the Union Military Governor of Alabama removed him.

Ex Brooks, Weatherly and Kilbourne. Signed Ashbrook

History of the Athens provisional: http://siegelauctions.com/enc/pdf/AthensGA.pdf (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE PAIR ON AN ATTRACTIVE COVER. ONE OF THREE RECORDED COVERS BEARING THE ATHENS PROVISIONAL TETE-BECHE VARIETY.

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, Crown records three covers: 1) Nov. 25 (1861) to Dr. E. D. Newton, ex Brooks, Jack Solomon, the cover offered here, 2) Dec. 2 (1861) to Capt. Porter King, ex Brooks, Weatherly and Kilbourne, offered in this sale as lot 1004, and 3) 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.

This cover has the same date and address as the cover with a pair listed in the Charles J. Phillips census (Crown book, page 19) as belonging to Harold C. Brooks. The cover offered in the previous lot is also from the Brooks collection, and neither cover was offered in the Laurence & Stryker sale of the Brooks Confederate States collection (April 24, 1943). Some of the collection was sold privately. There is a notation on the back of this cover "C. S. Watson Co." in Brooks' hand.

Dr. Edward D. Newton's biography appears in Vanishing Georgia, Georgia Division of Archives and History (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/vanga ): "Asst. Surgeon, Surgeon, 7th Georgia Infantry. On April 27, 1861 Dr. Newton was appointed from his home in Athens, Ga. to report to the 4th Ga. Inf. in which he served until June of that year. He then reported to the Surgeon General and served at the General Hospital in Richmond and Camp Winder near there until reporting for duty to Gen. J. E. Johnston at Manassas in March, 1862. In April of '62, Newton was transferred to the 7th Ga. Inf., and served with Cobbs Legion, Cobbs Brigade. In August he reported to Gen. R. E. Lee near Gordonsville, Va. He was promoted to Surgeon in Feb. 1863 and reported to Gen. Lee and Chief Surgeon McLaws who transferred him again to temporary duty with Cobbs Legion. In May 1864 he was ordered to 'proceed to the field hospital of the Battlefield of the Wilderness.' He signed orders as a Surgeon at the Receiving and Forwarding Hospital at Petersburg, Va. in August 1864. He served there until his surrender at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Dr. Newton then returned to his home in Clarke County, Ga."

Ex Brooks and Jack Solomon. With 2009 P.F. certificate

History of the Athens provisional: http://siegelauctions.com/enc/pdf/AthensGA.pdf (Image)

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VERY FINE. ONE OF SEVEN RECORDED FULL COVERS BEARING THE ATHENS 5-CENT RED PROVISIONAL STAMP.

Our census contains one half-cover and seven genuine covers with the 5c Red (a suspect ninth cover has since been certified as having the stamp added). This count accords with the Crown census. All genuine examples are dated in March or April 1862. In addition, we record fewer than six off-cover examples of the 5c Red.

This cover is signed on back by Stanley B. Ashbook, who noted that it came from the Harold C. Brooks collection (lot 34 in the Laurence & Stryker Apr. 24, 1943 sale). There is a notation in Brooks' hand, "C. J. Phillips," indicating the source of the cover. Phillips handled the sale of the George Walcott Confederate States collection, and Brooks acquired a number of items privately (this cover did not appear in the May 23, 1935, Robert Laurence sale of the Walcott Confederates). The Phillips census (Crown book, page 22) incorrectly lists this cover as dated "Mch. 22" (it is "28"), and there is an entry that reads "The Nassau Stamp Co. have photographs of covers I have not located: 5c Type II, on cover, March 28, Mrs. Howell Cobb, Macon, Geo.", which must be this cover. Nassau Stamp Co. handled a number of important collections containing Confederate provisionals, but we cannot determine which collection included this cover.

Ex Walcott, Brooks, Consul Klep and Dr. Simon.

History of the Athens provisional: http://siegelauctions.com/enc/pdf/AthensGA.pdf (Image)

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