Sale 1238 — Civil War Special Mail Routes
Sale Date — Wednesday, 23 June, 2021
Category — Blockade-Run Mail


VERY FINE. A SPECTACULAR BLOCKADE-RUN COVER ORIGINATING IN FLORIDA, MAILED TO CHARLESTON WITH THE 10-CENT DARK BLUE LITHOGRAPH AND THEN FORWARDED TO THE BAHAMAS ON A BLOCKADE-RUNNER, WHERE IT RECEIVED THE EXTREMELY RARE "BAHAMAS/SHIP LETTER" HANDSTAMP. A WONDERFUL COMBINATION OF RARE ELEMENTS AND ONE OF THE PREMIER BLOCKADE-RUN COVERS OF THE CIVIL WAR.
This cover combines numerous extremely rare elements. It is one of two recorded outgoing blockade-run covers from Florida (Walske census). It is one of fewer than five blockade-run covers with an outgoing Confederate postmark. The King's Ferry datestamp from a Collins device with double-line circle is rare in its own right, with only five known (Dr. Briggs census). The 10c Jefferson Lithograph stamp is one of two recorded used on a blockade cover. The address to the pilot of the blockade-runner Antonica and carriage on a different blockade-runner in the Calypso add historical interest. Finally, the "BAHAMAS/SHIP LETTER" handstamp is extremely rare on a blockade-run cover, with only two other examples recorded (one in the Walske collection and one offered in the following lot).
Special Routes census no. BO-Nas-15. Discussed in Linn's Stamp News (Nov. 17, 2003) when the cover was discovered in the Bahamas and sold on eBay. Illustrated in Steven Walske's Chronicle article about the blockade-runner Antonica (No. 262, p. 143). Illustrated in Florida Postal History During the Civil War (p. 112). With 2003 P.F. certificate.