Exploded cover revealing inside Prize Court contents

Outgoing Blockade from Charleston S.C. to Stephen W. Cary. No 61 South St, New York, pristine blue adversity cover made from a printed Confederate court document CONCERNING PRIZE COURT AND LETTERS OF MARQUE AND PRIZE GOODS, this was likely carried on an outbound blockade runner and given to an agent bound for New York at Bermuda or Nassau, entered mails bearing a top sheet margin US 65, 3¢ rose, tied by NEW-YORK / MAR / 25 [probably 1864] dcds duplexed with circle of wedges, Very Fine. Known correspondence originating in Charleston S.C. Local free home mail delivery began in 1863. The U.S. did not recognize the Confederacy and a formal state of war and thereby created a contentious situation where privateers with letters of marque were not recognized and those men captured treated as pirates subject to immediate execution. Ex Atlanta Collection (Kaufmann Auctions) $1,500.