3c Dull Red, Ty. III (26). Huge straddle-pane margin at left with centerline and part of stamp in adjacent pane, tied by "Kent, Housatonic R.R. 21 Aug." (1861) route agent's oval datestamp on cover to Bridgewater Conn. with blue and red "Star of the North, or the Comet of 1861" Lincoln patriotic design, shows Lincoln shooting downwards through the sky with a red, white and blue trail behind him, blue "Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by Samuel C. Upham, 310 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, in the Clerk's Office in the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania", this imprint is on the front in the following lot, missing top flap, vertical file fold does not affect design or stamp, some paper indentations

FINE. A RARE AND ATTRACTIVE EXAMPLE OF THIS LINCOLN DESIGN, COMBINING PATRIOTIC SENTIMENT WITH A CONTEMPORARY REAL-WORLD ASTRONOMICAL EVENT. ESPECIALLY DESIRABLE AS A RAILROAD USE AND WITH THE IMPRINT ON BACK.

The rare "Comet of 1861" design is a wonderful combination of patriotic sentiment on the meteoric rise of our nation's 16th President, who had been relatively unknown before the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, and the real-world "Great Comet" of 1861. The 1861 comet was one of the brightest of the 19th century, visible to the naked eye for approximately three months, from June to August in the Northern Hemisphere, and by telescope for many months after. As such it was categorized as a "Great Comet", which generally means appearing once or less a decade. On the Fourth of July 1861, a soldier from the Second Wisconsin wrote about the comet, “We have been visited for a week past by a very large comet which at full day appears very bright and transparent; late at night the tail stretched nearly to the Zenith while the star was near the horizon." (http://civilwarwisconsin.com/campfire-stories/46-great-comet-of-1861.html). Popular media used the comet as a symbol for events then unfolding, especially the impending Civil War. It appears in several political cartoons of the period, but we believe none are as beautiful or apropos as the Lincoln design on this cover.

Ex Walcott and Myers

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