I'd like some opinions regarding a cover that our local stamp club president recently acquired - with his permission, here is the email he just sent off to Linn's:
"Dear Collector's Forum,
I recently acquired this cover (see attachment). My question: Is this a legitimate postal cover? There is no CDS. The cachet appears to have the correct number of flag stars for 1861, but the uniforms pictured don't seem to be civil war period. The stamp looks correct, but the "PAID 3" cancel seems too perfect. Can you help?"
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 05 Jun 2017 04:28:32am
re: Questionable Cover?
There are multiple types of this Patriotic cover (including more modern reproductions), they are outlined in the Bill Weiss book, “The Catalog of Union Civil War Patriotic Covers”. Here are the pages with your period-correct cover, M-F32 …
Don
I digitized this book for Bill and I also have the separate but associated 'Value Guide'. If you would like to know the value (values are a decade old) I can look it up.
This book is no longer in print and not that many were originally printed. Bill's daughter still occasionally sells the digitized book on DVD, if you would like to own a copy (of any of Bill's digitized books) let me know and I can get you contact info.
the uniforms are fine. In fact, they match those of the Washington Artillery, circa 1850: http://www.washingtonartillery.com/Uniforms%20page.htm. They were a local militia unit in New Orleans. Note that so many of the early units were mustered from existing militia companies, regiments, and batteries.
There were standard uniforms, but in moving from an army of 16,000 to 200,000 in a matter of months tested the quartermaster corps; moreover, many regiments were outfitted at the state level, hence the colorful zoaves of NYVs, for instance.
I don't often see PAID on Scott 65. I'd be more worried about it than the cachet. I would have thought that most places had town cancels; pre-paid envelopes had been required since 1857 (although soldiers were allowed to send envelopes to be paid by recipient).
any more thoughts on the PAID aspect.
David
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Randy,
There is nothing that looks like this cover is faked to me. I am not sure why there is no CDS. From the scan the "paid 3" in circle looks OK.
David,
There are numerous paid cancels known on the 1861 issues. George Linn published a book on them in 1955, "The Paid Markings On The 3c U.S. Stamp of 1861". I have quite a few paid cancels on this stamp, some on cover. I'd be happy to post scans.
The numeral "3" on the cover looks mis-aligned when looked at in comparison to the images shown by Don. Even they are not exactly the same. Did they really vary in position that much. I would have assumed that the 3 would have been more vertically arranged in relation to the four letters of paid.
Here is a scan from George Linn's "The Paid Markings On The 3c U.S. Stamp of 1861" Copyright
1955. It shows some of the varieties that are found on this stamp.