Help Required Is This Scott #63? Plus ID 2nd Stamp

Hi could friends on here please tell me if I identified the blue stamp correctly? Is it Scott #63? If so I assume this cover is 1861-62 civil war era am I correct? Can anyone id the Washington stamp? On the address I noted c/o a Captain Peire? Can anyone read the words under that as address fading? Ex dealer price 65 pounds does this seem about the correct value for this cover? Please send me some thoughts on this cover as I have it coming in my listings and don't want to let it go to cheaply. Thanks heaps in advance for the help.

Are there any postal markings on the reverse?

Unfortunately back is blank no postmarks at all and I just can't make out the date on the blue stamp 18??

Here is what I can make out on the addressee:

John Y. Ball
Carpenter
Care of Capt. L. H. Peirce
Dept of Masters
(Philad)elphi(a)

Dept(uty) Q(uarter) Master

The #65 is a lake shade, so the date will be most probably 1863 or 1864.....those are the years when the lake brown's, brown lake's and lake rose's were printed....

Hope this is helpful, Ray

You are correct that the one-cent stamp is a Scott #63 and Ray identified the three-cent as a Scott #65. The three-cent stamp paid the postage rate for the letter. The one-Cent stamp paid the carrier fee. Post offices in some larger cities, Philadelphia being one, had employees who were paid a fee for delivering mail from the post office to the addressee. Check sold listing on ebay to get a feel for the price.

Thanks guys this is a big help so we have a definite American Civil War cover as addressed to c/o the mentioned military Captain in a quarter master dept and we think the year is either 1863 or 64? Price to be checked but maybe 65 pounds is on the right mark.

Internet showing a Captain L.T.Peirce to the Deputy Chief Quartermaster could this be our man?

Price I can see for the the three-cent as a Scott #65 is about $25 but this is on its own not tied with the #63 on a civil war cover, is this cover anything scarce?

Now going blind on the postmark on the Scott #63 it looks like 1863

It is not scarce. Try checking sold listings on ebay for #63s and #65 you should be able to find covers that have sold with the combination of both stamps. There isn't anything special about this cover that would cause it to sell for a premium, unless you can find out that the addressee was someone significant during or after the war. You can Google his name and you may find out about him.

I've run a couple dozen enhancements trying to pull out the year, all without success. There just isn't enough there to be definitive. There is little to no premium for an 1863-64 usage from Philly.

As to value?
It would be much nicer if the 1-cent had an actual Philadelphia carrier cancel, but it is obvious that is the rate being paid. The 3-cent is nothing special, even on cover. Is it a "Civil War" cover? It's not a patriotic, nor is it to a soldier in the field but a civilian in Federal service is definitely interesting. As a buyer, it bugs me when a plain 1860s cover is listed as "Civil War." From my perspective, not all mail from 1861-65 qualifies as such. I think it is certainly worth $30-50, more if you can get a couple interested bidders.

Year?
1861 - would be extremely early use of these stamps. Unlikely.
1862 - I lean heavily toward this
1863 - free carrier service in effect beginning July 1, 1863, so if 1863, then this is overfranked.

Maybe I have to start it at $9.99 and let my bidders decide what its worth. Its still got a civil war Captain's name on it so is still a civil war related cover, not patriotic but you would use civil war in title to attract bids. To bad the postmark and address are not clearer. I notice the postmark is Aug so if its 1862 that would fit with the Scott #63 stamp

I think John Becker has a good analysis for this one.

The cover is franked for carrier service. If we assume the franking to be correct and proper (which it may not be) then for August 27 it must be earlier than 1863. If it is improperly franked then it appears to be 1863. Why?

Both stamps bear the same cancellation, so we know that the squiggles on the perfs of the 3c stamp are the year date of the cancel. Here is a blowup of that part of the image:



The first squiggle is the numeral "1" from the year date.
The next two squiggles show us the "8".
the next two are the very top of a "6".
The last two could be either a "2" or a "3".

The last two cannot be a "1" or a "4"

Like John, my money is on 1862.