Cover Help 25, 26, Or 26A ???

With limited resources for reference, would anyone throw
some advice on this cover ? Acquired years ago, so I'm not
really sure who or where I got this, but if memory serves,
it came in a Civil War pile of ephemera.
Cannot tell which of the three this one is.

Hello towards2112.......


Welcome to the club.......it's a #26.

Looks like a Scott #26 (Washington type II)just going by the color but that isn't an indication as there are quite a few different shades,also looks like it was posted just before the new issue series of 1861 came out.
regards Harry

Thanks folks,
That's what I had thought.
Phil

Nice Cover, Phil.

Thank you. Been wondering about having the pencil removed
and having it pressed. I have a good friend that does proper
resto work and owes me for some swaps we've done.

Then how about its value?

How is that done? I assume you don't just grab a big eraser?

Disclosure of resto has always been the problem for most people.
Kenny does very professional work. I have been in the comic book
business for 35+ years, and while there has always been resto
in comics, some people hide the fact that work has been done on
a comic book. It's always been a fine line between what is good
for the book, IE a book about to fall apart, or already in low
grade, and resto to inhance it's market value. Some comics require
work to be safe to handle. Others want to capitalize on a mid grade
book and maximize it's market potential. I don't have a problem
with either viewpoint, but, I do want to know if a book has had
work done to it. The closest thing I can equate to in the stamp
world currently, is peroxiding stamps and covers with foxing.
Mold and mildew on paper is universal regardless of the name
given.
The market value of this cover is slight, and rather appealing to
me personally, so the pencil removal, a light cleaning, and
pressing will only enhance the appearance, and possibly slow
down any long term deterioration of the piece.

Hello ZhengCheng.....


My 2010 Scott Specialized Cat shows a value of $10.50 for a #26 on cover.....less for one with a pen cancel and the stamp is not tied to the cover so that would reduce the value. Also, I noticed that the stamp has a few faults and the perfs cut in on the bottom edge causing further reduction. Most covers from the 1850's are faulty.......it's not easy to find one in exceptional condition.

Many thanks Towards2112 for your frank and sincere answer.

And many thanks Tom, your great detailed information and explanation is an important direction and lesson for me. Very appreciate it.

What a minute on the estimate, the value can be greater if the writer/sender or receiver are noted persons.
The writer/sender without the letter itself cannot be exactly determined.
However, the receiver information is fantastic.
Ann Elizabeth Hobbs was a well know artist in her time.
She used the "sand paper method" utilizing charcoal, pastels & chalk on a glittery marble dusted drawing board. Her themes were of romance often depicting Native Americans in those romantic theme, hark the "Noble Savage" reference of those days.

Ann lived from 1828-1886, was also a school teacher, but never married.

What this letter could be is a return letter between pen-pals, not likely, but cannot totally rule out, as a romantic exchange. But many single women would write to various soldiers whom him not have family and friends to hear from, in order to keep up moral giving those soldiers something to look forward too instead of the alternative.

So with letters of this era should not be solely looked at for their philitelic value but the cultural & historical connections as well.

Letters and covers from famous people certainly carry higher value.....however.....covers addressed to famous people are not valued that much higher. Exceptions are made for Presidents, other politicians and other very famous names......

Case in point.......is this cover really worth much more just because it's addressed to Tiffany ???? Possibly to some collectors, but I doubt it's worth a great amount.

? -- red-haired pop star from the 80s?
? -- Louis Comfort?

KirkS