Civil War Cover

So I went to the coin show today...
I didn't have any intention of buying stamps.
Never really any good stamps at the coin show anyway.

I ran into a very old man with a table set up.
He wasn't a 'coin' dealer though. He was a 'Civil War'
collector, that was culling off some stuff. He was a
model southern gent, with a thick accent. His items
were labeled into 2 catagories: "Southern" and "Yankee"!
LoL! He almost looked offended when I asked to see
his stack of "Yankee" cover, which was dwarfed by his
"Southern" cover pile. He had some really super stuff.
Lots of eye candy. He said he has been collecting this
stuff since he was 10... So judging by his advanced age,
was probably 70 years ago! He had coins, stamps, diaries,
letters, tokens, papers, and about anything else you can
think of, all from the years 1860-1865 era.

Anyway, I told him I liked stamps, and especially cover,
so he pulled out a huge stack of flashy stuff that started
over $100 each, and went through the roof from there. I
stopped him and said: "I have $100 to spend for this whole
coin show, and would like to spend some here, and still get
some coins today. Show me what I can afford."

After going through his stuff and telling me all sorts of history,
as well as where/when he got each cover, I walked away with 3.
Being so well priced, they are rough around the edges, and far
from his best inventory, but I like them fine, and they match
the quaility/character of the rest of the cover my father left me.

I got 2 'Yankee' covers, both 65s.
One was patriotic, the other was historical as it was written to
Washington DC from a staff member of McClelland's Army.

The other was a CSA #1, green with blue cancel.
I could have gotten far more common stamps on cover, and in better
shape, but he talked me into this one. He said a #1 for my first
CSA cover would be a good start, as the stamp and cancel are very
high catalog value. The reason I got it for pennies on the dollar
is that the stamp was faulted due to a careless cut on the left side.

Here they are:

The man had hundreds of Confederate "Wallpaper Letters"...
It looks as though the people peeled the wall paper off their
rooms and wrote letters on it, then folded it up like an envelope
and applied the stamp/address! I guess paper was short or expensive
in the south during the war? They were neat, and must be sought
after judging from the prices he was asking.

He also has some mind blowing patriotic covers that were very
ornate, as well as a full spectrum of colors. The one I got was only
a single color (red), so I guess that is why it was less disireable.
The flag covers were great... Full, multi-color flags, both Union and
Confederate, depending on which pile you looked at. I wish I could afford.

Another thing he had, interesting, but not my speed, was unused patriotic
cover. The envelopes were pristine, and the designs great, but if it doesn't
carry a stamp, cancel, and address, I am not really interested.

Neat covers and great stories.

Thanks,

Pochta

Great covers Ratio

You never know what you will find at a 'coin' show.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Ratio, the cover that is on the bottom dated January, has some really nice color also on the stamp. If it's '62, it's awfully hard to tell from an image, but is it pinky looking to you? Also the clarets in the #65's are from early '63 and if it isn't pinky, could it be a "wine" color?

And since it's a January 1-- if you ever wanted to try to go for a calendar, you've got one of the tough dates out of the way!

Nice buys, by the way...Ray

Super pick up Ratio! Great story too almost like being there it was so detailed...I wish I could have been a fly on the wall over his booth! :D

Thanks guys, it was fun.

Mac, I can't believe I didn't even notice the New Years cancel on the one until you pointed it out!