Macon Ga., 5c Black on Light Blue Green Wove, Comma after Office (53X1). Large even margins all around, tied by "Macon Ga. Oct. 28" (1861) double-circle datestamp on small cover to Mrs. James Shackelford in Cedar Spring Ga. with beautiful Wesleyan Female College red corner card with embossed Book and Lamp design, slightly reduced at left into the corner card and small closed tear

EXTREMELY FINE STAMP ON A BEAUTIFUL COVER. ONLY FOUR OR FIVE EXAMPLES OF THIS WESLEYAN FEMALE COLLEGE CORNER CARD DESIGN ARE KNOWN WITH THE MACON PROVISIONAL.

The person most likely to be the Macon postmaster who issued the provisional stamps is Dr. Edward L. Strohecker, a graduate of the Medical College of South Carolina, who was elected three times as Macon's mayor. He helped to organize the Georgia Medical Association, and travelled to visit and treat Confederate troops during the war. Another postmaster and possible stamp issuer is Washington Poe, a relative of the poet, who also served a term as mayor and was elected as a Union delegate to the Georgia Secession Convention in Milledgeville.

All of the Macon provisional stamps were printed from typeset forms. The 2c and two of the three 5c settings simply state the denomination and nothing else, and they were the first stamps printed. These were followed by the four-line "square" stamp, offered here, which includes the words "Post Office" and "Macon, Ga." The order of issue is confused by the Scott Catalogue listings.

The Macon provisional with “Post Office, Macon, Ga.” added to the setting is very rare on cover (Peter W. W. Powell reported 24 on cover in the Confederate Philatelist, Sep.-Oct. 2000). Only three advertising covers are known with this stamp, in addition to four or five printed college covers.

Ex Seybold (with his backstamp), Emerson, Lehman, Haas and Dr. Brandon. Scott Retail for normal cover

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