12c and 30c Navy (O41, O44). Tied by cork cancels, 12c also tied by "Washington D.C. Apr. 6 4PM" (1877) circular datestamp on legal-size cover with "Navy Department, Official Business" imprint, addressed to "Commodore C. H. B. Caldwell, Commanding South Atlantic Station, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil", red "New York Apr. 7" and "London Paid 17 AP 77" transit datestamps, red crayon "160/2" (160 centimes) credit, partly clear Rio de Janeiro receiving datestamp on back, some perf toning mostly confined to 12c stamp, damp staining on back, minor edge nick at top right

AN IMPORTANT NEW FIND IN UNITED STATES OFFICIAL ISSUES AND OFFERED TO THE MARKET FOR THE FIRST TIME. THIS "COMMODORE CALDWELL" COVER IS ONE OF ONLY TWO RECORDED EXAMPLES OF THE 30-CENT NAVY DEPARTMENT STAMP ON COVER AND ONE OF THREE 12-CENT NAVY COVERS. ITS TWIN COVER FROM THE STARNES COLLECTION HAS LONG BEEN WIDELY REGARDED AS ONE OF THE "TOP TEN" OFFICIAL COVERS EXTANT. THIS NEWLY DISCOVERED COVER NOW TAKES ITS PLACE ALONSIDE THE STARNES COVER AS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT UNITED STATES OFFICIAL COVERS.

When Siegel Auction Galleries sold the Starnes collection in 2007, the Caldwell 30c Navy Department cover was believed to be the only on-cover use of this stamp extant. The Starnes cover is an almost exact match to the cover offered here, but it was mailed in January 1877. A descendent of Commodore Caldwell was performing genealogical internet research on his ancestor and found the Siegel description for the Starnes 30c cover. He realized his family possessed several similar covers and consigned the group to Siegel for auction. In addition to this 30c Navy cover, the collection includes three 1c and 10c (2) combination covers (two offered in this sale as lots 389 and 390) as well as two other covers which are each unfortunately missing a stamp (one with a 6c Navy stamp missing a 15c, the other with a pair of 10c stamps missing a 1c). Les Lanphear, in his updated census of overseas Official covers, records 19 Navy Department covers, not counting the six newly-discovered Caldwell covers.

Commodore Charles H. B. Caldwell (1823-1877) was the commander of the U.S. Navy's South Atlantic Station, commanding the flagship U.S.S. Richmond from 1876-1877. As an officer during the Civil War, commanding the U.S.S. Itasca in the Gulf Blockading Squadron, Caldwell captured the Confederate schooner Lizzie Weston off Florida in January 1862 en route to Jamaica with a cargo of cotton. An obituary (included with lot) describes his heroics in the subsequent campaign to capture New Orleans in April 1862: "He personally commanded and directed the hazardous operation of cutting the chains across the Mississippi, between the forts, under heavy fire, which opened the way for Farragut in his memorable passage of the batteries." This action was memorialized in a drawing by M. J. Burns of Lt. Caldwell cutting the chains, which appeared in Scribner's Popular History of the United States in 1898 (p. 11). In late 1862, Caldwell commanded the USS Essex in the Union Mortar Flotilla which opened the bombardment of the Confederate works at Port Hudson, Louisiana.

These Navy Department Caldwell covers originate from the commander's son, Henry, who served as secretary aboard the Richmond. Henry kept a staff journal in 1876 and 1877 which recorded weather, location, and other information. A few photocopied pages of the journal accompany this lot. The journal abruptly ends in August 1877, close to the time of his father's death. Henry took the covers off the Richmond and they remained with him until his death in 1906. The covers then passed to Henry's younger brother, the descendents of whom retained them until now.

The 42c postage pays the double 21c rate to Brazil via Great Britain. At this time Brazil was not a member of the U.P.U. Therefore, the U.S. retained 5c of the 21c postage and credited G.B. with 16c for carrying the letter to Brazil. The double credit (32c) is expressed in centimes, as required by the U.P.U. regulations.

Accompanied by background information, some unpublished, provided by the family on Commodore Caldwell and his son Henry.

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