2012 Rarities of the World continued...

ALL MARKINGS CLEARLY STRUCK ON AN ATTRACTIVE SMALL COVER. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE "SOUTHERN LETTER UNPAID" HANDSTAMP USED TO CANCEL THE UNITED STATES 3-CENT 1857 ISSUE.

The U.S. May 27 suspension order prohibited post offices from forwarding southbound mail to disloyal Southern states. However, northbound mail continued to be sent via Louisville. Through June 6, northbound mails were forwarded to Louisville from Memphis or Nashville. From June 7 through 12, only the Nashville post office forwarded mail to Louisville, and Louisville continued to forward mail north. With the resignation of W. D. McNish as Nashville's Federal postmaster on June 12 and the withdrawal of the U.S. mail agent from this route, Louisville held the mails still being sent north by the discontinued post office at Nashville. On June 24, Dr. John J. Speed, the postmaster at Louisville, was advised to forward letters from the South to the loyal states after removing postage. With approximately 5,000 such letters accumulating at Louisville by this date, Postmaster Speed employed a more practical means of invalidating postage by creating the "Southn. Letter Unpaid" handstamp. Louisville started marking letters on June 25, but this first group did not have a datestamp. The subsequent group and all of those thereafter have the Louisville circular datestamp (June 27, 28 and 29 being the most common dates).

United States postage stamps and stamped envelopes used from the South were regarded as contraband and were refused as prepayment. There are 29 "Southn. Letter Unpaid" covers recorded in the Special Routes book (No. 25 has been deleted as a fake since publication), of which only 13 have the 3c U.S. adhesive stamp used to pay the domestic rate. Two of the 13 are used with the New Orleans provisional, and one is in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum, leaving only ten 3c 1857 Issue stamped covers with the "Southn. Letter Unpaid" marking.

Special Routes Census No. SLU-24. Ex MacBride and Nunnelley (Image)

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VERY FINE STRIKE. AN EXTREMELY RARE EXAMPLE OF THE FORT VALLEY 3-CENT PROVISIONAL ENTIRE -- UNLISTED IN SCOTT OR DIETZ. THIS MAY BE UNIQUE REVALUED TO 5 CENTS.

The 3c provisionals issued by postmasters in Confederate States prior to the establishment of the Confederate postal system were recently classified as a separate group in the Scott Catalogue. The presence of the dateless circular control mark establishes this entire's provisional status beyond doubt. A second example of the "Paid 3" used on April 12, 1851 (obviously not revalued to 5c) was offered in our sale of the Hall collection. A third without the control mark and dated March 19, 1861, was offered in our 1970 Kohn sale.

With 2012 C.S.A. certificate (Image)

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VERY FINE. THE FINEST OF THE THREE RECORDED COMPLETE COVERS BEARING THE AUTAUGAVILLE POSTMASTER'S DISTINCTIVE BRASS-DIE PROVISIONAL.

Autaugaville, situated on the Alabama River about 25 miles west of Montgomery, had a Civil War population of less than 1,500. Its postmaster, Albert William McNeel, seized all U.S. Post Office Dept. property and turned it over to the Confederacy. Postmaster McNeel used two different handstamped markings to make provisional envelopes. The earlier type is Scott 10XU2, of which one example is recorded, dated Oct. 8, 1861, and last sold for $12,100 in our Sale 801. The brass handstamp seems to have followed, with four examples recorded as follows in date order: 1) Nov. 21, 1861, to Willis Todd, Benton Ala., ex Worthington, Hessel, 2) Nov. 27, 1861, to J. Hodges Golsan, Montgomery Ala., ex Graves, Green and Gross, the cover offered here, 3) Nov. 28, 1861, to Elder H. Talbin, Marion Ala., ex Emerson, Caspary, Weatherly, and 4) Jan. 10, 1862, approximately one-half of cover, ex Walcott, Lilly. The brass engraving is similar in design to the Athens adhesive provisional. The postmaster's son is on record saying that his father used printer's ink on the hand-held die and gently tapped the device onto each envelope. The impressions from the hard metal die are usually blurred and incomplete -- the clarity of this impression is remarkable.

It is noteworthy that the Kilbourne, Hill and Haas Confederate Postmasters' Provisionals collections were missing the Autaugaville.

Ex Dr. Graves, Dr. Green and Gross. With 1982 and 2010 P.F. certificates. (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE GEM. THE FINEST OF THE SIX RECORDED OFF-COVER BATON ROUGE 2-CENT PROVISIONAL STAMPS. AN OUTSTANDING 2-CENT PROVISIONAL RARITY OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES.

Of No. 11X1 we record 3 unused, 5 used off cover or on piece, and 5 used on covers. Of No. 11X1a ("McCcrmick" error) we record 1 unused, 1 used off cover and 1 used on cover. This sound stamp with enormous margins is the finest of the off-cover examples.

Ex Worthington, Hind, Hall and Dr. Agre. (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE APPEARANCE. A BEAUTIFUL AND RARE CORNER-MARGIN EXAMPLE OF THE 5-CENT BATON ROUGE POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL WITH MALTESE CROSS BORDER.

This corner-margin copy is significant, as it shows the wide dimensions of the printed background border in the sheet margin.

Ex Caspary. Paris dealer's purple handstamp at upper right. (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. THE ONLY STRIP OF THREE RECORDED AND THE SECOND LARGEST MULTIPLE OF THE BATON ROUGE PROVISIONAL.

Ex Caspary, Rev. Freeland and Dr. Graves (Image)

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VERY FINE APPEARANCE. ONE OF FIVE RECORDED BATON ROUGE PROVISIONAL COVERS WITH THE PRINTED RETURN CARD.

A biography of George A. Pike is available at the Library of Congress "Chronicling America" website (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88083120 ): "In December 1856, George A. Pike's Morning Comet and George C. McWhorter's Baton Rouge Daily Gazette were consolidated to form the Daily Gazette and Comet, which Pike edited with Rev. William H. Crenshaw. The brother of prominent Baton Rouge landowner and businessman William S. Pike, George Pike had been an outspoken member of the anti-Catholic, nativist Know-Nothing Party, which he promoted as editor of the Morning Comet and its predecessor the Daily Comet.

By 1856 the party had split over the issue of slavery, whereupon Pike, now editor of the Daily Gazette and Comet, shifted his focus to the growing sectional crisis between North and South. Pike opposed southern secession and called for compromise on the issue of slavery. In the presidential election of 1860, he supported Constitutional Union Party candidate John Bell of Tennessee and his running mate Edward Everett of Massachusetts. However, he also spoke favorably of pro-Union Democrat Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. Louisiana secessionists whom Pike criticized included Senator John Slidell and Governor Thomas Overton Moore.

In the months leading up to the election, the Daily Gazette and Comet reported on the activities of Unionists in and around Baton Rouge and on meetings of Bell and Douglas clubs. (The city ultimately cast the majority of its votes for Bell.) After the election, the paper reported local and regional responses to Lincoln's victory. Pike himself disagreed with Republican ideology in regard to slavery but considered Lincoln to have been fairly elected and encouraged southerners to adopt a 'wait and see' attitude.

Published Tuesday through Saturday in four pages, the Daily Gazette and Comet consisted primarily of advertisements and thus helps document Baton Rouge's commercial life on the eve of the Civil War. Although the city's population was then only about 5,500, it was one of the most important shipping centers on the lower Mississippi River and had served as Louisiana's capital for eleven years. In addition to business news, Pike reported on sessions of the state legislature. Also of interest is news related to other local institutions, including the Louisiana Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind and the newly founded Louisiana Historical Society, which Pike served as secretary.

Publication of the Daily Gazette and Comet was suspended for about two months during the Civil War and appears to have ceased entirely by war's end in favor of a weekly edition with which it had been published concurrently since 1856."

Ex Dr. Green. (Image)

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EXTREMELY FINE. A BEAUTIFUL AND RARE CORNER-MARGIN EXAMPLE USED ON COVER OF THE 5-CENT BATON ROUGE POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL WITH MALTESE CROSS BORDER.

This corner-margin copy is significant, as it shows the wide dimensions of the printed background border in the sheet margin.

Ex Hill. (Image)

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VERY FINE EXAMPLE OF THE 5-CENT "McCCRMICK" ERROR. A MAJOR CONFEDERATE PROVISIONAL RARITY.

Ex Ferrary and Hall. Small "W.H.C." Colson backstamp. This is the only off-cover example we have offered since keeping computerized records. (Image)

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