Lynchburg Va., 5c Blue (52X1). Mostly large margins, clear at upper left and bottom left, tied by "Lynchburg Va. Oct. 28 --" (1861) circular datestamp on folded letter to Johnson, Younger & Otey in Richmond Va., sharp vertical file fold and waterstains away from stamp

VERY FINE STAMP AND ONE OF THE MORE ATTRACTIVE OF THE APPROXIMATELY 30 LYNCHBURG PROVISIONAL STAMPS KNOWN ON COVER.

Major Robert Henry Glass (1822-1896) was Lynchburg's Confederate postmaster and the father of Carter Glass, a prominent U.S. congressman and senator who co-sponsored both the 1913 Glass-Owen Act, which created the Federal Reserve System, and the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which enforced the separation of investment banking and commercial banking, and established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

R. H. Glass was the patriarch of a Virginia family that owned the Lynchburg Daily Republican newspaper. An incident with some postal relevance occurred in 1860, when Glass' associate editor killed a rival newspaperman who had accused Glass of using his position as postmaster to prevent the delivery of his competitor's papers. The dispute nearly resulted in a duel, but was diffused by Glass' wife. An exchange of letters between Postmaster Glass and Horace Greeley, publisher of the anti-slavery New York Tribune, proves that Glass would refuse to deliver newspapers he considered "incendiary" (Leon Whipple, The Story of Civil Liberty in the United States).

According to The Confederate Postmaster Provisionals of Virginia by Richard L. Calhoun, the U.S. Post Office appointed Alexander McDonald to be Lynchburg's postmaster on March 27, 1861. Glass' appointment as C.S.A. postmaster was recommended in the C.S. Senate on July 20 and 30, and confirmed on September 6, but he probably replaced McDonald after Virginia seceded in April.

The Lynchburg typeset provisional envelope was issued very close to the June 1, 1861, inaugural date of the Confederate postal system. The earliest recorded date of use is June 4 (1861), and the example offered in this sale is dated June 5 (1861). The envelopes were press-printed from a stock "5" engraving used in bank note production and the typeset word "Paid." The subsequent adhesive provisionals, issued in August, were a step up from the envelopes and closely resemble the Memphis provisional. Postmaster Glass stated that he copied the Memphis design after seeing the stamps on incoming mail. The Lynchburg plate was stereotyped from a master woodcut engraving. The size and layout of the plate are not yet known. The production has been attributed to Glass' newspaper office, but no documentary evidence has been located.

Of the 25 single Lynchburg provisional stamps recorded on cover in the Calhoun census, about one-third have stamps with four full margins, while the majority is cut into on one side. The few known pairs demonstrate the extremely narrow spacing between stamps.

Ex Moody, Muzzy, Dr. Simon and D.K. Collection

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