• Scott52X1

Description

Lynchburg Va., 5c Blue (52X1). Ample to large margins, showing short transfer at bottom, tied by "Lynchburg Va. Sep. 20" (1861) circular datestamp on orange-buff cover to Blacksburg Va. with "John H. Bailey, Carriage & Waggon Manufacturer. Lynchburg Va." cameo corner card with illustration of a carriage, stamp with faint gum staining, top flap removed, small mend at top does not affect stamp VERY FINE APPEARING AND EXTREMELY RARE USE OF A LYNCHBURG PROVISIONAL STAMP ON AN ILLUSTRATED ADVERTISING COVER. Major Robert Henry Glass (1822-1896) was Lynchburg's Confederate postmaster and the father of Carter Glass, a prominent U.S. congressman and senator who co-sponsored both the 1913 Glass-Owen Act, which created the Federal Reserve System, and the 1933 Glass–Steagall Act, which enforced the separation of investment banking and commercial banking, and established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. R. H. Glass was the patriarch of a Virginia family that owned the Lynchburg Daily Republican newspaper. An incident with some postal relevance occurred in 1860, when Glass's associate editor killed a rival newspaperman who had accused Glass of using his position as postmaster to prevent the delivery of his competitor's papers. The dispute nearly resulted in a duel, but was diffused by Glass's wife. An exchange of letters between Postmaster Glass and Horace Greeley, publisher of the anti-slavery New York Tribune, proves that Glass would refuse to deliver newspapers he considered "incendiary" (Leon Whipple, The Story of Civil Liberty in the United States). According to The Confederate Postmaster Provisionals of Virginia by Richard L. Calhoun, the U.S. Post Office appointed Alexander McDonald to be Lynchburg's postmaster on March 27, 1861. Glass's appointment as C.S.A. postmaster was recommended in the C.S. Senate on July 20 and 30, and confirmed on September 6, but he probably replaced McDonald after Virginia seceded in April. The Lynchburg typeset provisional envelope was issued very close to the June 1, 1861, inaugural date of the Confederate postal system. The earliest recorded date of use is June 4. The envelopes were press-printed from a stock "5" engraving used in bank note production and the typeset word "Paid." The subsequent adhesive provisionals, issued in August, were a step up from the envelopes and closely resemble the Memphis provisional. Postmaster Glass stated that he copied the Memphis design after seeing the stamps on incoming mail. The Lynchburg plate was stereotyped from a master woodcut engraving. The size and layout of the plate are not yet known. The production has been attributed to Glass' newspaper office, but no documentary evidence has been located. Of the 30 Lynchburg provisional covers recorded in the Calhoun census, only three have advertising designs; the other two depict a fireman's water pump. Two with embossed corner cards are also recorded. Ex Haas and Dr. Brandon

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