PUERTO RICO, Coamo Provisional, 1898, 5c Black, Ty. I (201). Position 5, full framelines all around, uncancelled and affixed to green cover addressed to Playa de Ponce P.R., clear strike of "Postage Due 2 cts" handstamp applied at receiving office with "2" in manuscript, magenta "Santiago Hermoso Coamo, Puerto-Rico" oval forwarders handstamp, "Military Sta. 1 Porto Rico, Wash. D.C. Recd. Sep. 1 '98" backstamp, irregular top left corner, stamp with some inconsequential edge toning

VERY FINE. AN EXTREMELY RARE COVER WITH THE 5-CENT 1898 COAMO PROVISIONAL AND THE U.S. POSTAGE DUE HANDSTAMP APPLIED AT PLAYA DE PONCE. ONLY ONE OTHER COVER IS KNOWN WITH THE POSTAGE DUE HANDSTAMP.

The origin of the Coamo covers was discussed in a 1988 article in Possessions by Ovidio Davila. Davila states that Alfred O. Tittmann, the stamp collector who is known to have purchased the remainder sheets and brought them to the United States for sale, also obtained a number of Coamo covers with single stamps used to Ponce. He sold these covers to Mr. Robert L. Junghanns between 1920 and 1923. The six Coamo covers offered in this section come from the Junghanns collection.

Ten Coamo covers are known in total, including three which were used by Captain R. D. Potts on mail to San Francisco. Seven are known with single Coamo stamps exhibiting the proper local use within Puerto Rico during the approximate three-week period when regular stamps were not available. None of the stamps was cancelled at its origination, probably because there were no cancelling devices left in Coamo when the Spanish evacuated. The re-emergence of these covers after decades off the market has afforded the opportunity to compile an updated census of the known covers, which is available at http://www.siegelauctions.com/dynamic/census/PR_201/PR_201.pdf

The presence of the postage due handstamp on this and the cover offered in the following lot is evidence that military postal officials in Ponce did not regard the Coamo stamp as paying U.S. postage. However, this was not applied consistently as these are the only two covers that have evidence of postage due.

Census No. 201-COV-06. Ex Tittmann and Junghanns

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