BE2

Standard DCDS -- CSA #11a (AD) (margin just in at the top center Milky Blue) tied by the small DCDS Macomb, Tex  7 JAN 1864 (full year date in the postmark).Addressed to Col E. S. Gulley, Coatopa, Ala. The cover was posted well after the Fall of Vicksburg when the 40c Trans-Mississippi Express Rate was in effect. However, this cover went from Texas to Alabama for the standard 10c letter rate. The cover was not underpaid as the 40c rate at the time was not mandatory for all mail crossing the river. Letters could still be mailed at the standard 10c rate but just would not receive the express service. Most of the mail from one side of the Mississippi River to the other from the Fall of 1863 to the end of the war went for the 40c rate as the express service was far more reliable than the standard 10c letter rate service. Trans-Mississippi covers from this time showing the standard 10c letter rate are very scarce items. The cover is illustrated on Page 262 of the Collector's Guide to Confederate Philately Second Edition. Minor reduction at the right not affecting anything. Very clean cover.

SOLD $1,500.00