St. Louis, Missouri, 5c Black on Bluish Pelure (11X7). Type III, Position 5 with retouched ball in "5", large margins except clear at top left and just in at bottom right, tied by large manuscript "5" cancel on blue folded letter from William G. Pettus to Mrs. C. R. Pettus in St. Charles, Missouri, red "St. Louis Mo. Jan. 16" (1847) circular datestamp struck twice, matching "PAID" handstamp, cover with expert repair at top center, does not affect stamp and not noted on accompanying certificate

FINE APPEARANCE. A RARE EXAMPLE OF THE 5-CENT ST. LOUIS POSTMASTER'S PROVISIONAL ON BLUISH PELURE PAPER. ONLY SIX COVERS ARE RECORDED.

Pelure paper was used for the last printing after the 20c denomination on Positions 1 and 3 was burnished out and the 5c values were re-engraved. At the time of this modification to the plate, Position 5 was slightly altered by adding a dot within the bottom ball of the figure "5", as visible on this example. Pelure stamps are almost always faulty and often seriously defective.

The census of Postmasters' Provisionals at the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society's website lists seven covers with Scott 11X7. The vertical pair (Positions 3/5) on the cover listed as USPCS no. 21221 is no longer affixed to the cover (see Siegel Sale 544, lot 17). The cover offered here comes from the William G. Pettus correspondence, which reached the market in the 1980s. Pettus was Secretary of State of Missouri in 1822 when the Grizzly Bears seal of the State was adopted (the basis of the St. Louis "Bears" provisional design).

USPCS census no. 21218. Ex Faiman. With 2008 P.F. certificate

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