Items for Sale - Mourning Covers - Item#20087
20087 Click on image to enlarge.
Item# 20087

GB 33, 1p Red tied duplex on mourning cover to Lieutenant E.E. Fairfax Williamson, Conf. States Army, No. 15, Warwick Cresent (sic), Kensington, London with House of Commons embossed seal on back of black-edged flaps. Williamson was NOT in the Confederate Army. He was a FEDERAL SPY POSING AS A CONFEDERATE ARMY OFFICER IN ENGLAND. This intriguing cover was written up in a Daniel T. Gilbert article in the July-August 1980 Confederate Philatelist, a copy of which is included. Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin urgently wrote to Henry Hotz in London on September 24, 1862, warning him that: “One E.E. Fairfax Williamson who has just gone to England and whose address is to be found at Peabody’s banking house is a Federal spy. Please write a warning at once to all our agents and officers in Europe. Williamson is about twenty years of age, fair complexion, blue eyes, bad teeth.” $1,250.

Listed in both Miscellaneous-2 and Mourning Covers

Price: $1250