CSA 6, 5¢ blue pair tied by blue PETERSBURG / VA // AUG / 5 [1863] cds US #U9 entire, addressed to “Mrs. W. H. Baxter, Care Robt. Charles Chaplin, Danville, Va., Very Fine, Ex Thayer

CSA 6, 5¢ blue vertical pair (small faults) tied neat bold RICHMOND / Va. // AUG / 13 / 1862 cds on pale blue watermarked envelope to “Mrs. E. H. Cockran, Flat Shoals, Geo”, Very Fine

CSA 6, 5¢ blue pair with large to huge margins all around, neat neat AUGUSTA / GA. // JUL double circle cancel on fresh homemade cover to “Mr. James A. Nobles, Georgetown, Geo., slightly reduced at bottom otherwise Very Fine, Choice.

CSA 6, two pair of 5¢ blue tied by bold double strike of  RICHMOND / Va. // JUL / 25 / 1862 cds on legal size cover reduced at left, addressed to Rev James A Lyon DD, Columbus, Miss; adversity cover fashioned from lined  medical military form showing “Assistant Surgeon / Commanding Officer…are necessary for the use of the sick at this post, in consequence of…”,  open 3 sides to display, bit of edge wear. Nice double rate adversity use. Ex Hambrecht. $450.

CSA 6, 5¢ blue vertical pair tied neat blue PETERSBURG / Va. // SEP / 7 cds on homemade cover to Miss Annie B. S. Pettigrew, Care of Jas. B. Shephard Esq., Raleigh, N. Carolina; Fine. $120.

CSA 6, 5¢ blue, two singles (slight edge erosion on right of right stamp) used with manuscript cancel of Zollicoffer, Ten Sept 19 on homemade cover to “Miss Nancy E. Gray, Skeenah PO NC” and at left “Greenville Asheville N.C. Macon Co.” in same hand. The town of Union was renamed Zollicoffer during the Civil War in honor of Confederate General Felix Zollicoffer who was killed in battle on January 19, 1862 at Mills Springs KY. It reverted to the name Union after the war until 1887 before incorporating under the present name of Bluff City. Scarce town marking. $300.

CSA 6, 5¢ blue pair tied bold CALHOUN / Ga. // AUG / 30 cds on homemade cover noted “O.B.” (Official Business) to Surgeon Lewis D. Ford, Augusta, Ga. with contents docketing as being from Maj. Dunwoody. Extremely long detailed Hambrecht / Koste biography of Dr. Lewis DeSaussure Ford at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=122014237 with photos. During the Civil War, Ford “was first surgeon of the Georgia Hospital in Richmond to the close of the war. When called on in 1862, he unhesitatingly journeyed to the Confederate capital, though then sixty years of age." $180.

CSA 6, 5¢ blue London bottom sheet margin (scuff in margin) and CSA 7-L, 5¢ local print (pre-use crease) on London paper tied together with CHARLESTON / S.C. // AUG / 11 / 186[2] cds on homemade cover to Miss Virginia C. Willis, No. 7 Line Street, Charleston, So Ca. and Care of W. S. Henry, Esq., 318 Meeting St. Although there is no absolute proof this was delivered by PENNY POST, both street addresses are local and more likely than not it was delivered that way. Original letter headed Camp Hagood, August 10th, 1862 from W. R. Willis to his sister with rather ordinary content. Letter file splits reinforced with archival tape. There are two listings for W. R. Willis, one in SC Washington Light Artillery and the other in SC 2nd Battn Sharp Shooters. Penny Post use catalogs $3,500 in CSA Catalog for local delivery. Ex Karrer. $350.

CSA 6, 5¢ light blue pair tied GREENVILLE / N.C. // SEP / 13 cds on back flaps of small homemade cover to Hellen Grimes, Raleigh, NC. Inside with a handwritten name but no address or evidence of postal use, light staining mostly on back. $100.  

CSA 6, 5¢ light blue (two singles, tiny faults) used with scarce manuscript cancel of “Salubrity SC 22th Sept” on tiny cover to W.L. Boggs, Columbia, S.C. where FORWARDED to Tuscaloosa with ms. “Fowd 10” and blue COLUMBIA / S.C. // SEP / 23 cds; edge wear and missing top back flap, also ink erosion in pen stroke crossing out “Columbia.” $120.

CSA 6 & 7, 5¢ blue London and Richmond print MIXED FRANKING tied together by RICHMOND / Va. // AUG 20 / 1863 CDS on FOLDED LETTER written on lined paper addressed to Mrs. Louisa N. Nowlin, Hillsville, Carrol County, Virginia. London print has vertical pre-use crease and many of the file folds are breaking but FABULOUS LETTER CONTENT to “Lou” from “Mother” DESCRIBING BATTLE OF THE GUNBOATS, to wit, “They came up very audaciously several times near Chaffins Bluff, they were fired on, our men fixed some cannons at deep bottom & fired into one monitor, they then doubled quicked down to curls rock & then gave them Jipe, the torpedo man was absent and a green one fired off just as the boat goat near enough not to be blowed up; they have left the rivers by capturing one man that was fishing, we could not tell the extent of our success, but about twenty hats was picked up after the boat left, they carried of[f] more negroes than they ever did, I am told our pickets allowed themselves to be bribed by the darkies, and rarely ever stop a negro. Mayo bought three negroes to supply the places of the three that left. They just answer and that is as much, he bought the fourth one who professes to have been raised in the house as a dining room servant & cook, now old Claey is quick to him, and Marshall can clean the knives three times.” Photocopies of the letter are included so is unnecessary to keep opening to read. Most interesting and a nice mixed franking to boot. $300.

CSA 6 pair, 5¢ blue (light horizontal crease) tied grid with matching ATHENS GA OCT 1 CDS on cover to Mrs. Judge King, Marion, Alabama. Ex Ralph Swap. $95. Porter King was a lawyer, judge, mayor of Atlanta in 1894, and earlier a Perry County representative in the Alabama legislature. He was born in Marion.

CSA 6 SINGLE, 5¢ blue (4 nice margins) tied neat CHARLESTON SC JUN 24 (1862) double-circle datestamp on commercially-made cover to Miss E. B. Grimball, Care of J.B. Grimball Esq., Spartanburg C.H., South Carolina. The vast majority of covers are franked with pairs. Ex Ralph Swap. $250. 

John Berkley Grimball (1800-1892) was a prominent planter with plantations near Charleston. His papers are housed at Duke University. His son, John Grimball (1840-1922) was a well-known Confederate naval officer about whom I wrote a series in Kelleher’s Stamp Collectors Quarterly (see Articles page).