BE141

CSA #1 Stone 1 Position 41 (91) (4-Margin with large sheet margins left and bottom indicating that the stamp is from the lower left corner of the pane at Position 91 and gum toning) tied by the small New Orleans, La DCDS 31 DEC 1861. Addressed to Hon R. K. Howell, New Orleans, La. This is not an overpaid drop letter but instead is incoming rivermail with the scarce New Olreans rivermail postmark applied on arrival at the dock. On Page 471 in the Inland Waterway Mail section of the new CSA catalog, this scarce postmark is dismissed and not valued. A statement is made that there is no proof that this mark was applied at the dock rather than at the main post office. We (JLK and CLB) disagree with that statement and are in agreement with the late Hubert Skinner who in his writings about Confederate New Orleans described this as a dockside postmark. The DCDS from New Orleans is very scarce whereas the large single rim marks from the main post office are quite common. This cover, a similar CSA #1 cover pictured on Page 332 of the Collector’s Guide to Confederate Philately Second Edition, and the extreme scarcity of this postmark with Confederate use would seem to dispute the above catalog statement. These two covers are 5c Lithographs with a New Orleans address indicating that the 5c stamp paid the correct incoming rivermail rate and did not overpay a drop letter rate. And there are a few other similar covers as well. For our evaluation of this New Orleans postmark, refer to Pages 331-332 of our Guidebook. Besides the stamp gum toning, the cover shows a little light foxing, a little edge wear, and has backflap opening tears. Still with an overall very clean appearance.

SOLD $750.00