Is This Amazing Advertising Cover With Ox9 Real?

Beautiful cover with amazing markings but the OX9 is not tied. Looking for help determining if the multiple markings and the use of the official seal are real.

Yes.

Manuscript on back indicates opened by person (unreadable) and closed by carrier #23 with the carrier's name (unreadable).


Edited for:

Yes, for the non-believers, I realize the cover is fake as it has no leg to stand on.

Also have the contents of the letter.

The contents makes the package even more remarkable. Good find!

The "Have your mail addressed to street and number" and the "Unclaimed" look perfectly normal/proper.
The other one may say "return to writer", which would also fit.

I have no opinion on the seal.

Advertising covers related to artificial limbs, while perhaps morbid, were a definite fact of life in the years following the Civil War.

Most recently, a weekly postal history blog, I suppose you would call it, described a cover similar to this one, along with a good deal of background on the subject of artifical limbs.

Postal History Sunday is a weekly online column, written by Rob Faux, a postal historian and a bit of a modern Renaissance man, whose writings I follow regularly, and enjoy thoroughly. His column #299, titled Out on a Limb, can be found here.

All of his previous columns can be found here, and cover an amazing broad range of subjects. Give them a try.

MikeL

https://postalhistorysunday.substac...ut-on-a-limb

What an amazing cover. Talk about a piece that crosses different areas of collecting. Medical, Civil War, illustrated advertising, Postal Seals. For me the Springfield, MA address is icing on the cake since it is where I grew up. Springfield was a bustling place in the 19th and early 20th centuries. You had manufacturers ranging from Rolls Royce to Smith & Wesson producing in Springfield. It is known as the City of Homes for its inventory of stately estates and large Victorians.

AND it is now offered on ebay as, "Rare advertising cover for artificial limbs opened, officially sealed with OX9" for an opening bid of $50.