US 26, 3¢ dull red (two singles slightly overlapping and with tiniest faults) tied together by CHARLESTON / S.C. // JAN / 21 / 1861 double circle cancel, Independent State Use on ALL-OVER ILLUMINATED WHARTON AND PETSCH CAR WORKS, CHARLESTON, S.C. AD COVER ILLUSTRATING A TRAIN CAR at upper left. A bit reduced at left with stain at center but this is a UNIQUE design, newly discovered in the Plantation Collection. $900

Wharton and Petsch Car Works produced railcars from 1850-18??, according to online sources. From the Charleston Mercury of both January 1 and July 1, 1861, “Wharton and Petsch, Car Works, Charleston, S.C., are prepared to build cars of all kinds on reasonable and accommodating terms, short notice, and deliver to any point in the Union. Thomas J. Wharton, A. H. Petsch.” In the American Railroad Journal, they were touted as the most extensive car builders in the South, according to Horace H. Day of New York on March 23, 1852. Wharton was born in 1826 in August, Georgia, and died and was buried in Charleston in 1894.