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(MILITARY—CIVIL WAR—PATRIOTIC COVERS.)
J.D. His Marque.
Large patriotic envelope 6
1
/
4
x 8
1
/
2
inches, with a finely lithographed large skull and cross-
bones taking up the left half of the front; some faint signs of removal from an album.
Northeastern U.S., circa 1861-1865
[500/750]
An unusually large patriotic cover, possibly unique. It is very possible that due to the size and the
extra postal it would require the design was abandoned.
A FEW WORDS ON THE FOLLOWING LOTS
OF PATRIOTIC CIVIL WAR COVERS
From the onset of the Civil War, enterprising publishers, printers and stationers began to
design and print up patriotic postal covers on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. The
early covers were generally simple and “patriotic,” incorporating the flag and some words
regarding the preservation of the Union on the one side and the glory and values of the
“Old South” on the other. However, after 1861, and the prospect of a protracted war;
the covers became more and more creative. Some celebrated battles and generals, some
were humorous, while others became increasingly harsh. Instead of simple patriotic mes-
sages, biting personal attacks on Lincoln or Jefferson Davis began to emerge. Designers
were quick taking advantage of events that became the butt of satire. For example; following
the liberation of vast numbers of slaves on the Carolina coast by General Butler,
dubbed “contrabands of war,” there emerged an entire genre of racist covers. The election
of 1864 provided ample material for the covers from both sides, not to mention covers
produced by the so-called “copperheads,” northerners that sympathized with the
South. It is estimated that by the end of the War, at least 200 different publishers had
produced close to five thousand different covers. The following lots include some of the
rarest known covers, Union and Confederate; many from the collection of Gordon Bleuler whose
collection of patriotic covers was said to be among the most complete ever assembled.