2006-03
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/28/2006
An exceedingly rare and short-lived circular relating to Confederate States postal history, being a nearly pristine example of the American Letter Express Co. advertisement used to send letters north after the war had commenced. Moreover, this unused specimen, 1p. 3"x5-1/4", c. July-August 1861, bears an a period ink inscription on verso that reads "This is the way Strickland & Co. carried on their correspondence with their secesh friends and accounts for their knowledge of the movement of our forces in the field." The precise historical context of the note is unknown, but it is clear that the anonymous author had reason to believe that the American Express Letter Co. was somehow clandestinely engaged in wartime espionage. Based in Nashville, Tennessee the American Express Letter Co. was incorporated on June 28, 1861 by Messrs. Thomas E. Jackson and William McGill as an alternative means of conveying 'letters and printed material' to the Northern states following the suspension of national postal service ordered into effect by Postmaster Montgomery Blair on June 1, 1861. Following the elimination of the abbreviated express services, mail continued to be regularly transmitted between the warring states under a nearly identical system set up by the US Army at Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk then became the point of exchange for the duration of the war; the major difference being that under military authority letters in transit could be read and censored. It is estimated that fewer than a dozen specimens of complete American Express Letter Co. advertising labels survive.
Click on a thumbnail above to display a larger image below
Hold down the mouse button and slide side to side to see more thumbnails(if available).
Click above for larger image.