US POSTAL HISTORY BLOG » Civil War

Civil War Patriotic Covers

Don — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:35:59 +0000

What’s on the design A-List when it comes to Civil War patriotic covers? President Abraham Lincoln is one of the most expensive, while the Rose of Washington by Charles Magnus is undoubtedly one of the most popular.

The Rose of Washington is a multi-colored Civil War patriotic designed by Charles Magnus. It is his arguably his best-known work. The colorful and elaborate rose is printed in blue on one side and bronze on the other. The Rose of Washington cover features a foldout rose enclosure with numerous scenes and monuments of Washington, D.C.

Confederate Handstamps

Don — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 21:20:37 +0000

The Confederate Period in American history begins on December 20, 1860 when South Carolina seceded from the Union. Other states would soon follow to form a confederacy, but official stamps issued by the Confederates would not appear until nearly a year later – October 1861. In the absence of a government-issued postage stamp, Confederate postmasters were faced with a dilemma: how to keep the mail (and postal finances) moving. Most of the time they simply accepted payment in cash and applied a ‘PAID’ hand stamp to the envelope.

Confederate Postmasters Provisionals –Civil War era postmasters in small Southern towns were able to handstamp mail to keep it moving while waiting for Jefferson Davis’ government to issue Confederate stamps. But the time-consuming process was inefficient for busy post offices in larger cities. This led to the creation of Civil War Postmaster’s provisionals. Some provisionals are envelopes pre-stamped with a postmark hat has been modified to say ‘Paid.’ Other provisionals are envelopes with pre-stamped amounts printed on them. Some of the most interesting provisionals of the period are traditional stamps produced by local printers.

Better Late Than Never

Don — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:26:42 +0000

It was not until 1995 that the USPS issued a block of 20 first-class letter stamps with the theme “Civil War, 1861-1865, The War Between the States.” The series honors men and women on both sides of the conflict including Confederate General Robert Edward Lee, Union Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant, Union Nurse Clara Barton, and Confederate Nurse Phoebe Yates Levy Pember. Famous places as well as famous faces are part of the historic issue with designs featuring Gettysburg and Shiloh. You can see the stamps at the USPS site: http://www.usps.com/images/stamps/95/civilwar.gif

Guide To Civil War Patriotic Covers

Don — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:26:57 +0000

From the earliest days of the war between the States, designs began to appear on envelopes sold to the public which expressed various kinds of sentiments of patriotism and/or negative caricature-like opinions of the enemy, or some other type of related subject. This type of postal expression had never been used to any extent prior to the Civil War. Earlier illustrated envelopes to promote various causes were usually of a propaganda nature, such as Intemperance, Cheaper Postage Rates, Anti-Slavery, etc. Patriotic themes on envelopes were used sparingly prior to 1861 in connection to a few political campaigns, but they were limited in scope and intent. Then, in 1861, all Hell literally broke loose!

The user of patriotic-theme envelopes could, depending on the design he chose to mail, express a wide variety of sentiments. This surely appealed to the average citizen during this turbulent period, and the practice spread widely and quickly, creating a great demand for the designs, in turn causing many publishers to enter into the growing field. The result is a facinating collecting field, wrought with colorful and often emotional designs, concentrated in a brief period in our history. No other field of U.S. cover collecting offers as many different design possibilities concentrated into such a short period.

Our records indicate that at least 200 different publishers and printers produced patriotic designs. Special albums could be bought during the war in which to mount the envelopes. Today these albums are $500/1,000. items. The collecting of Civil War Patriotics actually began during the war, and one design actually promotes the collecting of the covers! It is said that some publishers continued printing and selling covers after the war ended, but rumors of modern production of these designs are, in my opinion, mostly unfounded. I am of the opinion that 95% or more of the patriotic covers that exist today were printed between 1861-65. Indeed, some modern fakes exist, but not in any sufficient amount to yet create alarm in the collecting community. It is claimed that over 10,000 different designs exist, but I have concluded based on my studies that it is probably more like 7,500, as designs that I have not seen before, in 35 years of watching, rarely come into the marketplace. The collecting of CWPs is popular and the prices being currently paid on eBay, and elsewhere, are at record levels.

SUBJECTS;

A wide variety of subjects were used on envelopes to inspire patriotic sentiment, etc. Included in these are; Famous People (military and non-Military), Scenes (Battles, Non-Battle, Specific locations), Army Corps and Regiments, State-related designs, Caricatures (a wide variety, probably 1,000 different), Eagles, Flags, Soldiers/Males, Liberty/Female, Miscellaneous subjects including Bells, Shields, Poems, Stars, etc. Designs were predominately printed in red and blue (also to inspire patriotism!) but exist in a wide range of colors, including highly prized handcolor designs produced mostly by Charles Magnus Co. and Kimmell Co. and on envelopes of many different colors (but white is most common). Some collectors limit their collections to one or two of the subjects of their liking, but most try to aquire as many different designs as possible. Those who collect postally used designs may do so by subject too or by the State they live in, or some other criteria of their choosing. Specialized collections have been formed, for example, of only those used to foreign countries, only those used from Kentucky, only Caricatures, etc. As with all areas of collecting, how to do so is a highly personal choice.

VALUES

Twenty-five years ago, the lowest-priced unused CWPs could be bought for 10c-25c each! Today, the minimum price is roughly $5.00 and range upward to well over $250. for the most desirable subjects (Lincoln, Rose of Washington, etc.) . Postally used designs start at about $10.00 for those in very poor quality with very common designs, and range up to many thousands of dollars. As a young collector I can recall unused CWPs being common enough that we would sometimes use them to mail letters! I doubt many folks would do that today, although several businesses exist that sell envelopes bearing reproduced designs of CWPs for use.

Thanks to Bill Weiss who was kind enough to contribute this article. For more information on Bill Weiss Auctions, books and expertising service see our “Contributors Page”.