1861 2011

Aristocrats of Confederate Philately

EXHIBITED AT

WESTPEX, SAN FRANCISCO

APRIL 29-30, MAY 1, 2011

150 Years AgoSCOTT R. TREPEL

The American Civil War, fought from 1861 to 1865,established once and for all that no human could beenslaved on American soil and that no state couldleave the Union. It also demonstrated that the naturalresources, industrial capacity and financial capital ofthe North doomed the South from the very start,despite the gallantry and ingenious fighting tactics ofthe Confederate military.

The Civil War has been studied, taught and reenactedby countless numbers of people. It still creates strongemotions and conflict. As recently as the year 2000,the Confederate battle flag over South Carolina’sstatehouse was removed after strong protests from theAfrican-American community.

In studying the postal history and philatelic aspects ofthe Civil War, we are examining how Americans, tornapart by politics and battle, managed to maintain thelines of communication through two separate postalsystems. When we collect, examine, classify and displayConfederate postal artifacts, we are not celebrating thepolitics or racial policies of a defeated government.We are attempting to understand how people—Americans—coped with the disruption, the deprivationand the isolation caused by this horrific war.

Who but the most emotionally numb and sociallyadrift person could feel nothing when holding aConfederate envelope made from wallpaper, a piece ofmail that crossed the Union naval blockade, a letterwritten from inside the walls of a Federal prison camp,or a tattered cover carried in the oiled sachel of aConfederate courier crossing the well-guardedMississippi River at night?

Some of the “Aristocrats” of Confederate philatelyhave been gathered at Westpex to honor the 150thanniversary of the first guns of the Civil War. Theseimportant non-competitive displays join other exhibitsin the competitive arena, giving the public a rarechance to see many of the significant postal artifacts ofthe Confederacy in one place.

The five frames of Aristocrats comprise highlights ofthe D.K. collection of Postmasters’ Provisionals, theSteven C. Walske two-frame display of Civil WarBlockade Run Mail, the unique Mount LebanonPostmaster’s Provisional and the only surviving paneof Confederate “Number One.”

This exhibition catalogue has been published tomemorialize this unusual gathering of Confederate“Aristocrats” and to inspire others to collect this fascinating area of American postal history.

OPPOSITE

The only known complete pane of

Confederate 5¢ First General Issue.

One of three recorded New Orleans

5¢ Red color errors on bluish paper.

WESTPEX 2011

To be held at the San Francisco Airport Marriott Hotel

Friday, April 29 • 10-6

Saturday, April 30 • 10-6

Sunday, May 1 • 10-4

For information about WESTPEX, go to www.westpex.com

SPECIAL NON-COMPETITIVE EXHIBITS

OF CONFEDERATE STATES

Frame 45

The D.K. Collection of Confederate Postmasters’ Provisionals

Frames 43-44

The Steven C. Walske Collection of

Civil War Blockade Run Mail

Frame 46

The Mount Lebanon Postmaster’s Provisional

Frame 47

The Confederate “Number One” Pane of 100

The D.K. Collection ofConfederate Postmasters’ProvisionalsFRAME 45 (16 PAGES)

The Confederate States Post Office Departmentassumed control of the mails in seceded states on June 1, 1861. The old United States rates werereplaced by a two-tier structure: 5¢ per half ounce fordistances up to 500 miles, and 10¢ per half ounce over500 miles. Beginning June 1, U.S. stamps and stationery were no longer valid for postage in theConfederacy.

From June until the first Confederate governmentstamps were made available in October—and at latertimes when wartime conditions disrupted stamp distri-bution—Southern postmasters resorted to provisionalmeans of prepayment. Handstamped markings wereapplied to letters and envelopes when payment wasaccepted at the post office or through charge accounts.Some post offices prepared and sold envelopes bearingmarkings to indicate that postage had been prepaid.

At least 53 Confederate post offices issued adhesivestamps and press-printed envelopes. These are the onlytypes of Confederate Postmasters’ Provisionals shownin this exhibit.

Before the war, Southern citizens grew accustomed to the attractive engraving and convenient perforationsof U.S. stamps. During the war, Southerners could consider themselves lucky if they had any form ofadhesive stamps or printed stationery available for use.

Many Confederate Postmasters’ Provisionals werehand-made by the postmaster, using woodcuts orpostal markings. Some were set from loose type andprinted at the local newspaper office or commercialprinting establishment. A few were elaboratelydesigned and printed from woodcuts, lithographicstones or stereotype plates. There are no engravedConfederate provisionals.

The D.K. collection emphasizes the peculiar varietiesarising from the primitive methods of production,such as tête-bêche pairs, typographic errors and colorerrors. Among this group are the Baton Rouge 2¢ and5¢ “McCcrmick” spelling errors, tête-bêche pairs fromAthens and Memphis, the New Orleans 2¢ printed onboth sides, and the New Orleans 5¢ Red color errors(five of the seven recorded examples).

Also displayed are unusual covers, such as the NewOrleans 5¢ “Southern Letter Unpaid”, the Nashville10¢ on an Adams Express cover, and the Nashville 5¢“Hanging Lincoln” cartoon cover.

The Steven C. WalskeCollection of Civil WarBlockade Run MailFRAMES 43-44 (32 PAGES)

On April 19, 1861, President Lincoln proclaimedthe blockade of the southern coasts. Stretching from Virginia to Texas, the blockaded area encom-passed over 3,500 miles of coastline and nearly 200harbors and river openings. Clearly, the U.S. forcescould not cover every point of the coastline, so theFederal Blockade Strategy Board set priorities tostem the flow of goods and mail to and from theConfederacy.

The North correctly reasoned that only deep-waterports with established commercial interests and reliable rail and/or river connections to the interiorcould serve as effective entry points. They highlightedthirteen ports as the major points of concern, anddeveloped plans to either capture or close them.By mid-1862, all but four were effectively closed byUnion occupations of the ports or of key forts intheir harbors.

The 32-page Walske exhibit shows examples of mail carried on different Confederate blockade runnerroutes, including Havana-New Orleans, Havana-Galveston, Nassau-Wilmington, Nassau-Charleston,Nassau-Savannah, Bermuda-Wilmington,Bermuda-Charleston, Haifax-Wilmington,Matamoros-Galveston and Matamoros-Victoria (Texas). The examples of routes arefollowed by Prize Court mail from capturedblockade runners and post-blockade covers.

The Confederate “Number One” PaneFRAME 47 (EXHIBITED BY AN ANONYMOUS COLLECTOR)

This pane of 100 5¢ Green stamps was printed from a lithographicstone comprising 200 subjects. The stone was built up from four trans-fers of a 50-subject (10 horizontal by 5 vertical) intermediate transferunit. More than one stone was used to print the Confederate 5¢ 1861General Issue. This pane of 100 comes from the left side of a sheetprinted from Stone 1.

At one time this pane of 100 was part of an intact sheet of 200 ownedby Senator Ernest R. Ackerman. The Ackerman sheet was divided intotwo panes of 100, and the right pane was further divided into two half-panes of 50 stamps. Therefore, this is the only known surviving pane ofConfederate “Number One.”

The Mount LebanonPostmaster’s ProvisionalFRAME 46 (EXHIBITED BY AN ANONYMOUS COLLECTOR)

Mount Lebanon, Louisiana, is located in Bienville Parish. It was settled in1847 by immigrants from South Carolina. The Mount Lebanon postmasterduring the war (1859-65) was W. F. Wells, publisher of the Louisiana Baptistnewspaper. The provisional stamps were printed by Wells and used briefly inJune 1861. Mount Lebanon had a wartime population of less than 1,000, andit is unlikely that the stamp saw widespread use.

The Mount Lebanon provisional is believed to be the sole example of a mir-ror-image stamp in all of philately. The stamp was printed from a piece of wood with a relatively smooth surface. Lineswere incised into the wood and strips were removed to create the borders surrounding each stamp. Horizontal and verti-cal ruled lines were added within the borders of each subject, and a circle was cut into the center. At this point the“engraver” took printer’s type and hammered the letters spelling “Mt. Lebanon La.” around the circle, and the numeral“5” was impressed into the center. The enlarged photo shown here in upright position clearly shows the effect of this

process—the printed stamp is amirror image of the right-read-ing wood engraving. Anyonefamiliar with printing knowsthat the plate used to print animage must mirror the intendeddesign, a principle of typogra-phy that was missed or ignoredby this stamp’s creator.

The single known example ofthe Mount Lebanon provisionalshows parts of three adjoiningsubjects. A second impressionappears to the right of the primary impression, indicatingthat the woodblock wasimpressed more than once on asheet of paper.