LB4

CSA #80xu2a stampless Sumter SC Handstamp PAID 10 Provsional re-rated "2" for Drop Letter use with no postmark. Addressed locally to Capt T. B. Fraser, Sumter SC. Capt T. B. Frazer was a staff officer (Quartermaster). Unsure if this is the same T. B. Fraser as the addressee in cover LB1 above as South Carolina military records are sketchy to almost non-existent. Very minor corner faults at the left, othewise a Very Fine cover Ex-Zimmerman, Ex-Siegel Auction 1976 and 2003. Ex-Baum Collection. This cover has a very interesting and somewhat controversial history. This handstamp PAID 10 from Sumter struck in the upper right corner is known to have been used as a provisional handstamp as there are known and recorded unused examples of this handstamp as well as known and recorded uses of this handstamp under General Issue stamps which define the mark as provisional. This cover does not have a Sumter postmark. In researching Sumter drop letters, it is apparent that none of the Sumter drop letters have a Sumter postmark. The Sumter postmaster did not use the postmark on local drop letters. There are no control marks for the provisional handstamp, so a postally used example of the PAID 10 handstamp on its own with a postmark could be either a provisional or a standard handstamp paid. Since this cover has no postmark, it has been recognized for decades as a re-rated provisional and appears as such in the 1959 and the 1986 Dietz Catalogs. However, in the 2012 New CSA Catalog, it was removed from the provisional section and placed in the regular stampless section as a re-rated Handstamp PAID per the provisional section editor of the catalog. This is believed to be the only such cover showing this re-rated provisional use and has been recognized as such for years by Scott. This cover is still listed and illustrated in the current 2024 Scott USA Specialized Catalogue and retains its Scott provisional number (80xu2a). It is very likely that the sender had the pre-paid provisional envelope but only wanted to send a drop letter, so it was re-rated, and the remaining 8c credited to the sender's account. It is also very possible that the postmaster already had the PAID 10 envelope prepared for sale but sold it to the sender for 2c to cover the drop rate thus accounting for the re-valuing. Those are much more plausible explanations than saying that the postmaster perfectly struck the PAID 10 mark by mistake and then re-rated it when the postmaster was known not to use a postmark on drop letters. It makes no sense to say that the postmaster would strike a rate before looking at the address. Larry Baum was very upset that the cover was delisted from the CSA Provisional Section of the new CSA Catalog, and I too believe the delisting was a mistake. Also noted is the fact that this cover is illustrated and the subject of an article by noted CSA philatelist Van Dyk MacBride published in the June 1957 edition of the Confederate Stamp Album (forerunner of The Confederate Philatelist). Hopefully, the cover will be included in its rightful place in the CSA Catalog whenever an update to the catalog is done. Accompanying the cover is a short one page note that is undated by a collector of times past that is totally unknown to me also attesting to the provisional nature of the cover. A copy of the Van Dyk MacBride article is included with the cover.

$1,000.00 SOLD