Items for Sale - Blockade-Run Mail - Item#19637
19637 Click on image to enlarge.
Item# 19637

Outgoing blockade-run cover from Vicksburg, Miss., to England via Mobile, Havana CUBA and the Bahamas. Legal-size cover with original 2-page letter datelined "Vicksburg Miss., Confederate States of America, February 14th 1862," addressed to George Gill Muncy, Solicitor, Carlisle, England, carried on a blockade-runner from Mobile Ala. to Cuba, backstamped "Havana MY 7 1862 A," (COVER VERSO) then carried on the RMSP Trent to St. Thomas, arriving May 13; on the RMSP La Plata to Southampton, arriving June 1, London and Carlisle backstamps (June 2), manuscript "3/-" shillings due (packet rate plus non-payment fine), minor wrinkling, Very Fine. Faint postmarks on front of cover. The ENCLOSED LETTER (PAGE 1, PAGE 2) from Vicksburg is from A. M. Smedes to George Gill Mouncey (also seen as Mounsey and Mouncy) in which Smedes states he is sending the letter to Mr. Muir to be read and forwarded to Mr. Mouncey. In part, “Mr. Hunt, although a very wealthy man, could not pay anything on his note. It is important that the lands in several counties in this state should be protected from tax sales.” Very little blockade-run mail went through the port of Mobile Alabama, and all of it was carried to or from Havana. The Havana post office normally did not apply markings to mail bound for New York. This was carried by Royal Mail Steamship Company packet service to England and received the Havana postmark. THE ONLY RECORDED EXAMPLE OF OUTBOUND BLOCKADE-RUN MAIL POSTMARKED AT HAVANA. RARE BLOCKADE-RUN COVER FROM MOBILE, ALABAMA, TO HAVANA (CUBA), THE BAHAMAS AND LONDON. LL $5,500.

Price: $5500