Lot 1022 United States 1857-60 Issue

3c Dull Red, Ty. III (26). Tied by two strikes of green "St. Joseph Mo. Jun. 1" (1861) circular datestamp, with clear strike of "The Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company Denver City. K.T. May 25" oval datestamp on red and blue 7-Star Confederate Flag Patriotic cover (unlisted type with long waving flag) to Glenwood, Iowa, slightly reduced at right with small mended opening nicks at right VERY FINE. AN ICONIC COVER COMBINING AN UNLISTED 7-STAR CONFEDERATE FLAG PATRIOTIC DESIGN AND EXPRESS CARRIAGE BY THE COMPANY THAT OPERATED THE PONY EXPRESS IN 1860-61. This is believed to be the only extant pro-Confederate patriotic cover that originated in the Mountain West region. It was carried by a Central Overland California & Pikes Peak Express Company stagecoach from Denver City to St. Joseph, Missouri, via Julesburg and Fort Kearney. The oval datestamp has the "K.T." (Kansas Territory) designation, but it was applied on May 25, 1861, after Colorado Territory was created on February 28, 1861, and before Denver City was officially incorporated on November 7, 1861. The cover entered the mails at St. Joseph, the eastern terminus of the COC&PPE express route, on June 1, 1861. Coincidentally, this was the official commencement date of the Confederate States postal system, but despite the pro-Confederate sentiments of the printed envelope, it never entered the Confederate postal system nor was it addressed to a state that seceded. The cover was sent in the U.S. mails from St. Joseph to Glenwood, Iowa, and the U.S. 3c 1857 stamp paid the required postage for a letter originating east of the Rocky Mountains, per the Act of February 12, 1861, which replaced the 3,000-miles distance provision for the 10c rate with the "across the Rockies" 10c rate, effective May 1, 1861 (see Chronicle 109, p. 48). For this reason, it seems certain that this cover originated no farther than Denver, located on the eastern front of the Rocky Mountains. The "long waving flag" design with three bars and the seven stars of the original Confederate States is unusual, and this particular printed design is known only from this one recorded example. The publisher is not known. It could have been carried west to Denver, or perhaps it was printed in Colorado Territory. We have not been able to locate information about the addressee, Hawke & Brothers, in Glenwood, Iowa. Ex Moody and Haub ("Erivan"). Raymond Weill & Co. backstamp. With 2023 P.F. certificate.