10c Jefferson Davis on mourning cover

CSA 10-cent blue Jefferson Davis, tied by a military field cancel to a homemade mourning cover (evidenced by its black border), addressed to Cornwell Turnout, South Carolina.

To conceal the movement of the troops in combat zones, special markings used by Confederate army postmasters and mail clerks at army field stations were without indication of date or town. This concentric circle cancellation (also called 'target') is an example of one such markings.

This cover's date of use is not known. The stamp was printed by Archer & Daly, a Richmond, Virginia, company that also engaged in work for the Treasury Department. Frederick Halpin, a former employee of the American Bank Note Company, engraved the steel plate-printed stamp of Jefferson Davis. Earliest known cancellations April 21, 1863.

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