St. Louis, Missouri, 20¢ Black on Gray Lilac (11X6), Type I, Position 1, three margins are large to clear, just in at bottom, cancelled by manuscript pen squiggle and tied by well-struck red "St. Louis Mo. May 12" (1846) circular datestamp, matching "PAID" handstamp and manuscript "20" rate on blue folded letter to the banking firm of Charnley and Whelen in Philadelphia

Very Fine. A beautiful example of the 20¢ St. Louis postmaster's provisional on Gray Lilac paper, used on a cover from the Charnley & Whelen correspondence. Only 18 covers with Scott 11X6 are recorded in the USPCS census.

Charnley & Whelen was a firm of stock and exchange brokers in Philadelphia. In 1912, a well-known paper dealer named Edward Hemingway purchased the firm's old papers and letters. While sorting through the papers, a large cache of St. Louis "Bears" was found, reported to consist of six 5¢, 79 10¢ and 16 20¢. With the exception of a few which were sold at the time of their discovery, Mr. Hemingway held them until his death. They were bequeathed to the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Pennsylvania. The covers were sold by H. R. Harmer on December 13, 1948. The sale consisted of 42 lots of covers, bearing six copies of the 5¢, 51 of the 10¢ and 14 of the 20¢. The cover offered here was lot 34 in that sale.

Ex T. Cullen Davis ("Texas Collector"), Weill Brothers sale and Dr. Charles E. Test ("Concord" collection). USPCS census no. 21182. With 1989 P.F. certificate.

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