"Honest Abe Lincoln" On His Flat Boat: Presidential Campaign

This is one of the treasures I came home with from the Quechee show yesterday. It is an
Abraham Lincoln presidential campaign cover with an accompanying PF certificate. The
upper engraving is a portrait of a beardless Lincoln showing a good likeness to this 1860
photograph.



The lower engraving shows "Honest Abe Lincoln" on his flat boat.



The August 28 [1860] postmark on Sc#26 is faint but the letters "A-W-K-A" are clearly
visible under Lincoln's chin. This unusual combination of letters most certainly indicates
Oquawka, Illinois, as the point of origin. Furthermore the town cancel shows close
similiarity to this bolder stike from the 1860s:



Oquawka is a small town overlooking the Mississippi on the Iowa border. The cover is
addressed to J. J. Cole in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, located about 40 miles from Oquawka.



The Cole Brothers ran a prosperous business in Mount Pleasant selling pumps and
lightning rods.



The Cole Brothers Pump and Lightning Rod Company, by Robert W. Lovett © 1950

wow..great find

Very impressive indeed.

t360 -- very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Any ideas about the strange placement of the stamp?

That cover is excellant. It is just like the ones in the APS article from Jan or Feb on Lincoln's campaign covers. I am pretty sure Elliott Landau has similar items in his collection and exhibits.