| VA3328 |
CSA #12c Greenish-Blue (4-Margin but close on the left) tied by the Richmond, Va CDS partially struck off the cover Powell Type 7d 5 AUG (1863). POD Official Imprint "Post Office Department, Official Business, Chief of the Contract Bureau" CON-05. This particular imprint appears in the CSA Catalogue only on a commercial envelope. This example is overprinted on a USA Star Die.
There is no signature. "Official Business" and "Chief of the Contract
Bureau" are lined through, and the stamp is placed over the imprint
indicating postage paid private use and not official business.
Addressed to James Hemphill, Chester CH, Chester Dist., So. Ca. James
Hemphill (1813-1902) was a lawyer in Chester SC. Period receiving
docketing at the left refers to the sender, J. N. Lewis, and dates the
cover to 1863. There is a significant repair to the left upper part of
the cover for which part of the top back flap was used to construct the
repair. The repair matches very well and is not a distraction to a very
clean appearance. The repair does not affect the imprint, the address,
or the docketing.
The most important part of the cover is the Richmond Type 7d postmark. The
Type 6 and Type 7 postmarks are almost indistinguishable, but there are
some small differences which are difficult to see. This is all
explained in detail in Peter Powell's book on Confederate Richmond
postal markings published in 1987. The Type 6 postmark was used
beginning in DEC 1863 through to the end of the war. The Type 7
postmark saw very limited use only in March-October 1863. Powell only
recorded about 30 covers total using the Type 7d postmark and recorded
specific dates of use in his book of which 5 AUG 1863 (confirmed by the
period receiving docketing) is one of the recorded dates. This
is quite an important cover to a Richmond collector with the private
use of an unlisted variation to the official imprint and a scarce
Richmond Type 7d postmark. |
$500.00 |
JLKCSA@aol.com
-- Confederate Order
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